The Cross River State’s capital, Calabar has been thrown into darkness as one of the transformers servicing the capital city at the 132/33 KV Sub-Station in Tinapa, Adiabo area was gutted by fire.
Following the incident, the whole of Atimbo in Calabar Municipality, State Housing Estate and IBB Way were in darkness.
The incident occurred on Saturday when workmen were working on the transformer.
The fire, which took several hours to put out, saw the equipment still billowing with smoke on Sunday morning.
Although, the cause of the fire was yet to be ascertained, a witness in the neighborhood, Mr Johnson Okon, said they first heard an explosion and later balls of fire burning at the station.
“We just heard the sound and saw fire; we all ran out and many people were shouting but we could do nothing; we don’t know what caused the fire,” he said.
A security man at the sub-station who pleaded anonymity, however, said no live was lost in the incident.
“They were actually working on the transformer when it caught fire and thank God nobody died or got injured in the process,” he stated.
When contacted, Mr Collins Igwe, the Regional Manager of the Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company (PHEDC), expressed shock and said he would visit the facility to assess the extent of damage.
“I have heard about the fire outbreak. It is shocking, nobody is sure about the cause.
“I am on my way to assess the extent of damage; we will look at how soon we can restore power to the parts of town affected,” he said.
We’re working assiduously to restore power to Calabar – TCN
Meanwhile, The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) on Sunday said its engineers were working assiduously to restore power supply to Calabar, after a substation was gutted by fire.
Mrs Ndidi Mbah, General Manager, Public Affairs, TCN, made this known in a statement on Sunday in Abuja.
Mbah said that the fire occurred on Saturday at its Adiabo 330/132/33 KiloVolt (kV) Substation in Cross River.
”Presently, TCN engineers are replacing the affected equipment to ensure the restoration of power to affected areas.
”Supply will be restored as soon as equipment affected by the incident is replaced, most likely, Monday evening. Investigation into the cause of the incident is already ongoing,” she said.
The TCN apologised for every inconvenience to the government and electricity customers in the state and pledged to do all it could to ensure quick restoration of bulk supply to the area.
NAN
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