Cement factory fire kills three in Nigeria
22 March 2022
An explosion and fire at a cement factory in Sokoto, Nigeria killed three people on March 18. The incident occurred during routine maintenance work that was being conducted on a storage tank at a factory owned by BUA Cement Plc.
Representative image: Shutterstock
In a statement, BUA Cement called the incident an “isolated fire” that occurred at a diesel storage tank farm in the vicinity of one of its factories in Sokoto while routine maintenance work was being carried out by a third-party contractor. Local news sites have reported the incident involved a fuel tanker that was unloading diesel fuel.
BUA Cement said its emergency management and mitigation services were alerted immediately after the initial explosion, and a swift response was activated which prevented any escalation of the incident or damage to its main plant and equipment. Federal and State firefighters attended the scene and battled a blaze for several hours before it was extinguished.
Three workers from the third-party contractor are confirmed to have died in the incident. The number of injured has not been confirmed, however local news sites report that “many” people in the local area suffered a variety of injuries.
BUA Cement said the exact cause of the incident remains unknown but its factory had “adequate safety and control mechanisms” in place. Operations at the factory which were shut down in the aftermath of the incident as a precaution have since resumed.