‘Hero’ driver risks life as fuel tanker catches fire

Sep 02, 2010 News

Injured tanker driver, Gopaul Basmattie, at the Georgetown Hospital yesterday.

– air dashed to city with second victim

Exactly two months after Mahdia suffered a devastating fire destroyed the business centre, residents there were yesterday thrown into a state of panic by a short-lived blaze which saw two badly-burnt persons being flown to the city.
The fire, which damaged sections of Boodhoo’s General Store, has also left regional officials and at least one businessman who has investments there, fuming.
Kurt “Yellow” McKenzie, a long-time Mahdia resident and porkknocker, said that the fire started around 09:00 hrs.
“I was next door when we saw fire at the store and we rushed across.” Kaieteur News understands that workers of Boodhoo’s General Store were pumping out fuel from a tanker when a leaky hose that was too close to a kitchen was ignited by a lighted stove.
Reacting to frantic shouts of “fire”, persons in the vicinity of the business used fire extinguishers and water from “black” tanks in an attempt to douse the flames.
The fire ran wildly in the hose, badly burning the driver, 24-year-old Gopaul Basmattie, of Tuschen Housing Scheme, Essequibo, and Royston Harry, a male Amerindian worker, of Supply, East Bank Demerara, who was pumping the fuel at the time.
Describing Gopaul as a hero, McKenzie said that the driver, although badly burnt managed to jump into the tanker and with fire spreading along the hose, drove it from the area into a nearby ballfield, despite the personal danger. The fire was subsequently put out in the isolated area.
“He is a hero, because this could have been much, much worse,” the Mahdia resident said. The damage to Boodhoo’s building was contained to only a section, which was badly scorched.
The two injured men were flown out to the city, suffering burns to the legs and upper body. According to Regional Chairman, Senor Bell, the administration has been concerned about safety in the region but while complaints have been launched to the Guyana Energy Authority and the Environmental Protection Agency, officials who visited there only took registered fuel dealers.
Expressing relief that the damage was only minimal, the official was critical of the continued practice by businesses and residents of storing fuel in their yard and noted that it is a prevalent practice, especially in the interior.
“We obviously have our concerns. But the region has contracts and other works grabbing our attention…we can only raise these matters and hope they are addressed.”
Bell noted that the incident yesterday was exactly two months after the horrific fire.
Yesterday, a prominent miner who has several investments in the area expressed concern over the incident and called for the relevant authorities to re-assess the safety situation in Mahdia as far as fuel storage and other measures are concerned.