MARGAO: Panic rent the air at Nayeband-Cuncolim on Thursday evening after a highly inflammable Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF) tanker over turned and landed on the banks of a water body, around 200 metres away from the Cuncolim police station.
As the tanker lid was damaged in the accident, discharging fuel into the water body, panic stricken authorities evacuated the people from the immediate surroundings as a precautionary measure. The authorities appealed to the people around to switch off their cell phones as a matter of caution. The entire place started smelling of ATF, even as police immediately cordoned off the area and diverted traffic on the NH-17 on the Canacona-Cuncolim stretch via Agonda and Velim.
The sudden development caught motorists, especially tourists heading back to Karnataka, off-guard and a huge serpentine queue of vehicles was seen upto the Cuncolim market. The rush of the vehicles was cleared later in the evening with DySP Mohan Naik and his personnel supervising the operation.
DySP Mohan told Herald from the accident site that the tanker was proceeding from Mangalore to the Dabolim airport with 20,000 litres of Aviation Turbine Fuel. “Since the fuel was being transported by the HPCL, we immediately contacted the Vasco-based oil companies to despatch their expert team at the site. The work entails specialised work as even a spark could lead to a major crisis”, he said.
Margao Fire officer Gill De Souza said fire personnel immediately sprayed foam on the ill-fated tanker as a precautionary measure. “We received a call at around 6.20 pm and when we reached the spot, there was already a leakage from the damaged lid. We have spread foam as a precautionary measure”, he said.
Replying to a question, Gill said one option available for the authorities is to unload the tanker, having four compartments, but hastened to add that the driver has maintained that the keys of the main lock on the lids are with the company officials.
Tanker driver, A V Prasad told Herald at the site that the tanker overturned while he was negotiating a turn with a car coming in the opposite direction. Two cranes were requisitioned at the site to lift the tanker and the operation was on till late in the evening to tow the ill-fated tanker.
