Adrian Frater, News Editor
Firefighters the fire department at the Sangster's International Airport, in Montego Bay, are seen here assisting their colleagues from the Montego Bay Fire Department in dousing the oil tanker, which overturned in the western city yesterday, with foam. - PHOTO BY ADRIAN FRATER
WESTERN BUREAU:
A MAJOR oil spill, resulting from an accident involving a fully laden oil tanker, forced the closure of the busy Alice Eldermire Drive in Montego Bay, St. James for just under four hours yesterday as emergency measures were effected to reduce the possibility of a fire as well as to minimise environmental damage.
"This was potentially a dangerous situation so we had no choice but to close the road," said Assistant Superintendent Keith Fagan, of the Montego Bay Fire Department. "Beside the potential for a catastrophic fire, we also had to be looking at protecting the drains from the fuel because that could cause major environmental problems."
According to eyewitnesses, at 10:45 a.m. yesterday the white Kenworth Oil tanker with 5,000 gallons of petrol, was proceeding along Alice Eldemire Drive when a grey Suzuki Vitara licensed 7966 ED, exiting a nearby gas station, drove into its path.
The tanker crashed into the right side of the Suzuki Vitara and then careened out of control. It overturned, spilling all the contents of one of its four tanks along the roadway. While the driver of the tanker escaped unhurt, the two occupants of the other vehicle sustained minor injuries and were hospitalised.
EMERGENCY CREW EARLY
The police and firefighters, who were early on the scene, sought the assistance of a work crew from a nearby West Indies Home Contractors (WICHON) site to dump several loads of marl on the road to curtail the flow of petrol and protect the drains.
Despite the urgency showed by the firefighters, the inadequacy of the Montego Bay Fire Department was again exposed, as it had to seek the assistance of the fire department at the Sangster's International Airport to procure a quantity of foam, which is critical in fighting fuel-related fires.
"Thankfully the airport fire team was able to provide us with the foam we needed," said Superintendent Fagan.
The road was finally cleared shortly before 2:00 p.m., releasing the frustrated motorists who were caught in a major backlog of traffic on the adjoining Howard Cooke Boulevard because of the emergency closure of the Alice Eldemire Drive.
