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ZAMBOANGA
CITY—Officials
from the thickly populated west coast
village of
Recodo
have uncovered an abandoned tank containing an estimated
12,000 liters of highly flammable toxic chemicals that
could envelop half the village should it explode.
Councilor Nelson Francisco of nearby barangay
Tulungatung said the tank was uncovered on Thursday by
his laborers who were searching for scrap metal.
Francisco, who is in the business of buy and sell of
scrap metals, hired laborers to salvage iron scraps
being disposed of by a canning factory that has just
started operating in Recodo.
Out of
curiosity, Francisco took a sample of the chemical,
which he said “smells acidic,” and had it analyzed at
the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) regional
office here. The DOST office said the chemical is
hexane, a colorless and volatile hydrocarbon found in
petroleum that is commonly used as a solvent.
DOST
personnel advised people working or residing near the
site to be extremely careful with their use of matches,
fire, lighters and other igniters, because “a slight
flick of a match can cause an explosion.” They added
that with the volume of hexane in the tank, it could
easily engulf the whole barangay.
Noning
Antonio, a councilor from nearby Maasin village, said
the hexane was left possibly by companies that used to
lease the area and use the chemical to process copra
into oil.
Village
officials are seeking the assistance of the local
government and national government agencies to help them
in removing the hexane. |
