Africa-Press – Mozambique. An attempt to steal fuel is presumed to have caused the fuel spill in Pemba, which resulted in people trying to drain off the liquid from the sea for private use, authorities said on Sunday (August 1).
Quoted by O País on Sunday, Petromoc chairman Hélder Chambisse said that there was still not enough information about the origin of the fuel found in the bay of Pemba, Cabo Delgado province, northern Mozambique, and which led local people to run to the beach on Saturday (July 31) in an attempt to retrieve the fuel from the water, at the risk of their lives.
“This spill has nothing to do with Petromoc. if it were the company’s responsibility, the local authorities would have already informed us,” the newspaper quotes Chambisse as saying.
The Petromoc chairman said that the spilled fuel did not come from any company infrastructure, but that it was willing to “cooperate with the authorities”.
After the spill, and despite the imminent risk of a potentially tragic fire, children and adults, men and women flocked to the beach near the port of Pemba on Saturday to collect the fuel.
Presumed robbery attempt
News agencies on Sunday reported an alleged attempt to steal fuel as the probable cause of the fuel spill.
The director of Infrastructure of Cabo Delgado, Norte Uali, told the media on Sunday that the fuel was dumped when people involved in the theft of fuel from the port of Pemba tried to offload it onto a boat.
“It happened yesterday [Saturday] at around 5:00 a.m., when the movement of people removing fuel was noticed,” Uali said.
Uali said that a discharge caused by the vandalisation of a fuel pipeline belonging to the Mozambican state oil company Petromoc was a possibility, but added that it had been ruled out.
A multi-sectorial team was investigating the circumstances of the spill, and it was premature to speculate, he continued.
Inhabitants of neighbourhoods near the spill set off with containers to collect the fuel diluted in the salt water of the bay. It is estimated that about 10,000 litres of fuel was spilled, O País reported.
