State
House, Banjul, 28th October 2019 - His Excellency, President Adama Barrow,
accompanied by a high-level government delegation, paid a visit to the site of
a fire incident that occurred at a gas depot in the Kanifing Industrial Area to
assess first-hand the level of damage in preparation for the next steps of the
government.
The
fire incident reportedly broke out from the gas depot on Sunday evening
spreading to the nearby companies, warehouses, and car garages.
Speaking
to the media after the inspection of the burnt facilities, President Barrow
recounted how, upon hearing the news, he kept on closely monitoring the
situation until midnight.
“It
is a very unfortunate and difficult situation….We cannot thank enough the
respondents from the fire service team for the hard work. They work under very
difficult circumstances but the good thing is they are very determined to put
out the fire and contain the situation,” President Barrow told the press,
stating that preventive measures will be taken to reassess the safety standards
in place at similar facilities across the country.
President
Barrow announced that the government will set up a commission of inquiry to
look into what had happened in order to establish facts around the cause of the
fire and how to avoid future recurrence.
Additionally,
the assessment will further enable the government to establish the level of
damage caused. President Barrow assured that the government will give all the
support within its capacity to the victims of the incident.
