LPG leak - lack of preparedness to attend emergency

As per reports (1, 2, 3, 4) appeared in news papers, an LPG tanker with 15 T of LPG, moving on the road had a brush with tree branches leading to crack on roto gauge and LPG release.
Immediately driver and a resident in the area informed it to the fire brigade. The fire brigade and the police after reaching the spot in 15 minutes, started spraying water to dilute gas concentration and informed the supplier who reached after three hours without needed tools/materials.

The driver covered the crack with a cloth and the local fire brigade covered the crack with M-seal and POP after moving the vehicle to a school, away from traffic. Locals were advised by fire brigade not to lit/smoke in the area to avoid fire/explosion. The traffic was stopped ahead and diverted.


The action by driver, fire services and police is commendable in trying to plug the leak, dilute the gas leaked, alert locals to avoid ignition sources and reduce consequences by diverting the traffic. But, the emergency team of the oil company should have come with necessary arrangements for arresting the leak, which was not done. There is no use of doing drills when nothing could be done in real emergency. Most of the times, all our preparedness will be exposed when emergency occurs and we should review our plans to take care of such lapses, even if it costs.