Monday 4 January 2016

NNEWI GAS EXPLOSION: CHICASON GROUP GIVES TRUE ACCOUNT OF CASUALTIES

The Management and Staffs of Intercorp Oil & Gas Limited (a Chicason Group member company) is deeply saddened by the unfortunate gas explosion on the 24th of December, 2015 at the LPG plant.

We deeply regret the unfortunate incident in which a total of 10 people lost their lives and we sincerely condole with their families and loved ones. Investigations on the accident are still ongoing and our company is assisting relevant agencies of Government in the investigations.

We however wish to bring to the attention of the general public the true account of events and casualty that occurred on that day.

·        Our Group own and operates Gas Plant in the country for over 18 years without any form of industrial accident.

·        The Nnewi Gas Plant is operated by well-trained staffs that employ all reasonable safety and precautionary measures necessary before, during and after discharging of products.

·        Investigation is ongoing to ascertain remote and immediate cause(s) of the explosion.

·        Everyone (both customers and staffs) within the premises at the time of the accident were evacuated safely and no death resulted within the premises at the time of the explosion, but unfortunately some other persons were affected and lost their lives.

·        The accident is regretted and management sends its condolences to families who lost their loved ones.

·        Management of Chicason Group has visited the families of all the victims of the accident both at their homes and in the various hospitals where they are currently undergoing treatment.

We find it necessary to make the record straight in view of the fact that we are aware that incorrect and untrue information regarding the number of lives lost during the incident and the magnitude of the incident has been published and put in public space, claiming over 100 lives were lost and over 200 people were injured etc. We are also aware that pictures of disaster that had occurred elsewhere and at a time have been posted on online news portals and blogs, which created global media attention not only in relation to the accident but also to our country, Nigeria.

As a responsible organization, we state categorically and with all due respect to families who lost their loved ones during the incident that 6 persons lost their lives on that day and 4 persons later died in the hospital – 10 persons in total contrary to the media reports. We consider it necessary to set the record straight for record purposes.

We are however grateful to His Excellency the Governor of Anambra State, Chief Willie Obiano, for his involvement in immediately mobilizing emergency services to the site of the incident.

We are also grateful to the Anambra State Commissioner of Police and his team, the Red Cross Society, the Federal Road Safety Corp (FRSC), the Fire Service, the Managements of Nnamdi Azikiwe Teaching Hospital and Orthopedic Hospital Enugu as well as other emergency services and all well- meaning Nigerians including His Excellency the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari (GCFR), National Assembly Leadership represented by the deputy Senate President, Chief Ike Ekweremadu, the Minister of Interior, General Abdulrahman Bello Dambazau (Rtd), HRH Igwe Kenneth Onyeneke (Orizu III) the Igwe of Nnewi who assisted during the incident for their cooperation and all those that sent us goodwill messages.

Thank you
Management
  

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