TheCable

BUA Cement Plc says its Sokoto factory has resumed operations after an explosion rocked the facility on Saturday.

TheCable had reported that three people lost their lives in the incident while valuables and equipment of the company were destroyed.

In a statement signed by Sada Suleiman, assistant director of admin services, the company said the incident occurred during routine maintenance work on one of its storage tanks.

Suleiman said the swift response of the emergency management and mitigation services prevented any damage to the main plant and equipment.

The BUA spokesperson said the exact cause of the fire outbreak is still unknown.

“We wish to use this medium to inform the public of an isolated fire incident which occurred at a diesel storage tank farm situated in the vicinity of one of our factories in Sokoto,” Suleiman said.

“This incident occurred whilst routine maintenance work was ongoing on one of the storage tanks by a third-party contractor.

“Immediately the incident occurred, our emergency management and mitigation services were alerted, and a swift response activated, which prevented any escalation of the incident or damage to our main plant and equipment.

“We are however able to confirm the regrettable loss of 3 workers of the third-party contractor, who were in the immediate area of the incident.

“Whilst we are yet to ascertain the exact cause of the fire outbreak at the depot which had adequate safety and control mechanisms in place, members of the Federal Fire Service, State Fire Service, and our Fire department are working together to put the incident under total control.

“We would also like to note that operations at the plant and production which were shut down in the aftermath of the incident as a precautionary and preventive measure, have since resumed at the factory – which was unaffected by the incident.”

The company added that it would keep the public informed of new developments.