600 students evacuated as LPG leaks from Sta. Cruz gas station

MANILA, Philippines - At least 600 students taking their final exams at a school in Sta. Cruz, Manila were evacuated as a nearby gasoline station’s underground liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) storage tank developed a leak yesterday morning.

The Family Clinic Inc. Colleges suspended classes after fumes leaked from the gas station at the corner of Lacson and Aragon streets just before 11 a.m. No one was reported hurt.

Gas station personnel told fire investigators that they were pumping LPG into a taxi tank just before the leak was detected. Chief Inspector Bonifacio Carta of the Manila Fire District said built-in safety devices in the storage tank helped personnel detect the leak right away and prevent accidents.

“They just closed the valve. The valve may have not completely closed and some leak occurred,” he said.

Carta said a “cloud of fumes” flowed near the ground along Lacson street, but gas station personnel used water to contain the LPG, which is heavier than air. The water seemed to boil as the fumes mixed with the liquid, witnesses said.

 “What is more dangerous is when the leak would occur in an enclosed structure. If an enclosed structure would be filled up and a spark would occur, an explosion could occur,” he said, adding that the incident is under investigation. “We are still investigating why the storage of the LPG underground leaked. We had no report of any leak in the past from this station.”

He said firefighters cordoned off a perimeter of 50 feet from the gas station as gas station personnel fixed the leak. No cell phones, cameras and recorders were allowed to be used near the gas station, as firefighters warned that any spark could cause an explosion.

School building administrator Gerardo Galvan said they need to ask the gas station management if it would be safe to resume classes and put the power back on in the six-story school building, which has 40 classrooms.

“The whole building’s power was cut off to prevent any spark from the electricity that could start a fire or explosion. We just want to make sure. If there is no leak, we could open the power lines,” he said in a separate interview at the school.

He said classes were supposed to end this Friday, and graduation rites were set on April 5. Galvan said that as the school’s pollution control officer, he may file a complaint before the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) against the station’s owners.

Barangay 343 chairman Danilo Miranda said they were neither told beforehand when the gas station was built about five years ago, nor given a copy of the station’s new environmental compliance certificate from the DENR.