Station blamed for pumping water-tainted fuel into six vehicles
SIBU: Two cars and four motorcycles are said to have their fuel tanks filled with fuel tainted with water at a gas station here yesterday.
Initial blame was put on the heavy downpour Thursday night which might have caused water to get into the fuel tanks at the gas station. Head of the Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs here, Roslee Maslie said all the six vehicles had been sent to nearby workshop for repair with the cost to be borne by the gas station concerned.
“There is no (court) case taken up,” he added. A team headed by the ministry’s deputy chief here, Ganda Jirap, was despatched to the site for inspection following exposure of the incident.
Earlier, a Facebook posting that went viral had urged the public not to purchase fuel from that particular station, saying the fuel was contaminated.
“Heavy rain had caused the water to get into one of the fuel tanks at the station,” Roslee said, adding that the tank had since been closed for a cleanup.
He said other tanks at the station were operating as usual. Roslee advised the affected vehicle owners to lodge a report with them if the station does not bear the cost of repairs as promised.
Meanwhile, according to Shell’s report at 6.30am (yesterday) pump island No 3 and 4 and 11 and 12 were connected to tank No 2 which was said to be ‘flooded’ by rain water.
When the fuel was found to contain water, staff at the station immediately informed the cashier and stopped all sale.
The retailer then informed the staff to immediately close the entire station at 6.45am, and commenced dipping again to make sure all other pumps and tanks were not affected.
The affected pumps are currently blocked until full investigation is completed. It is learned that when the retailer checked all the underground tanks, two cars and four motorcycles had already filled up.