Major disaster averted due to timely intervention
Locals look at fire and rescue personnel cool the LPG tanker that turned turtle at Madappalli near Vadakara on Saturday night.
KOZHIKKODE: The people residing at Madappalli on Vadakara-Thallassery road had a terrible night on Saturday as a gas tanker after colliding with a truck crashed into a speeding car and turned turtle around 11.30 pm, leaving two injured and also causing a slight leak from the LPG tanker.
Alarmed by the situation, the police personnel took over control of the area and also diverted vehicles on the busy Thallassery-Vadakara highway to other routes.
Eight units of Fire and Rescue personnel from Kannur and Kozhikode district rushed to the spot and swung into action.
About hundred families residing at the spot were evacuated as part of precautionary measures.
District collector N. Prasanth who visited the spot in the morning, monitored the evacuation mission and also ensured timely technical assistance.
Fire and Rescue District officer Arun Bhaskar told DC that timely preemptive measures taken by the force helped in stopping the leak thus saving the public residing in the immediate vicinity from a tragedy.
“We removed the LPG from the tanker as a precaution and there was all possibility for the leakage increasing”, said Sreejith K., another fire force personnel who was present in the spot. “I feel the precautionary measures taken helped in reducing the pressure within the tanker”, he added.
A team of experts from the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Chelari also came to the spot early in the morning.
On the advice of the experts, forty percent of the gas was shifted to another tanker which was brought from Mangalore. By 2.30 pm the mission was over and till then the fire force team continued to cool the tanker by pumping water.
Later the tanker was raised with a crane and was removed from the site. The traffic through the route was affected for almost 16 hours, according to police.
The tanker was coming from Mangalore to the Indian Oil Corporation plant at Chelari.
( Source : deccan chronicle )
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