Friday, 27 January 2012

Fire Department saves burning tanker

‘If the Empangeni Fire Department had not been able to respond immediately, the Mtunzini Toll Plaza’s refusal to lend my driver a fire extinguisher could have resulted in the explosion of almost 50 000 litres of diesel.’ This according to owner of Empangeni-based company Jubane Petroleum, Dave Morck, who claims his driver was refused assistance from the plaza after the brakes on the diesel carrying truck and trailer caught alight at 4.30am on Tuesday, 10 January.‘After going through the toll gate the driver realised that the fire had started and stopped immediately.‘The truck has its own fire extinguishers but once they were depleted he ran to the toll plaza for help but this was refused.‘Thankfully the Fire Department saved the day,’ said Morck.

Disputed
However, according to Intertoll Africa the Mtunzini Toll Plaza never received a request for assistance. According to Regional Manager Wonga Mancotywa, they had received a complaint from Jubane Petroleum regarding the alleged refusal to assist and upon investigation had found no evidence to support the claim. In the Mtunzini Toll Plaza report it states that their highway patrol drivers had been on scene and that there had been no need for their assistance due to the arrival of the Fire Department. It went on to explain that the truck driver was using his own fire extinguishers and had four others offered to him by other truck drivers and they were about to go fetch more from their bakkie when the fire engine arrived.