Truck accident causes oil spill in O.W.
Residents of Orange Walk woke up to an oil spill on their doorsteps following an early morning trucking accident. Around five today a private tanker was carrying several thousand gallons of oil to clients in Blue Creek but as it turned a corner onto Liberty Avenue it rammed into a speed bump and ruptured one of the tanks. According to Area Representative and Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Johnny Briceño, heavy vehicles were being diverted to the area because of the construction of a pedestrian crossing on the Northern Highway. Briceño says for sometime now there have been concerns about the height of the two speed bumps on Liberty Avenue, a fact that may have contributed to the accident.
Jacqueline Godwin, Reporting
It is not certain just how much of the one thousand nine hundred gallons of crude oil stored in the damaged compartment was lost but the combustible liquid poured onto the pavement causing concern among residents in the area.
Johnny Briceño, Minister of Natural Resources/Environment
“Liberty Avenue has two huge speed bumps, some really big ones, and there has been concerns that maybe it was probably built a little too high. When the truck was rolling over that bump, it seems that when the first set of wheels went over the bottom of the truck hit that cement pedestrian walkway, that we have on Liberty Avenue, and the impact punctured one compartment of the truck.”
It did not take long for authorities to respond to the scene and contain the situation. The Department of Environment is investigating the incident which has highlighted the need for a contingency plan for such emergencies.
Johnny Briceño
“We are going through a learning process and what we have to do is try to think about any kind of spills or any kind of accidents that can happen. Then we need to try and come up with different contingencies.”
Jacqueline Godwin for News Five.
Officials from the Department of the Environment, the Ministry of Works, the Fire Service and employees of Belize Natural Energy assisted in today’s oil spill clean up in Orange Walk. According to a press release issued by the Ministry of Natural Resources, initial reports are that less than a quarter of the tanker’s contents were lost during the incident.
