Residents of Gasidat area to the south of the Ras Al Khaimah city escaped a massive explosion after a tanker filled with liquefied petroleum gas overturned early on Thursday.

The mishap was blamed on the 33-year-old tanker driver identified only as R.K.K according to a senior officer with the RAK police.

Brigadier Ghanim Ahmed Ghanim director-general of the central operations room of the RAK police said the Asian driver lost control over the tanker which overturned and rested on its right side.

"The tanker filled with inflammable gas blocked the road for four hours during which the RAK police in collaboration with authorities concerned dealt with the situation in a professional way."

The central operation room was alerted about the accident at around 5am on Thursday morning he added. "Traffic patrols ambulances and civil defence firefighters moved to the scene.

"The whole area was cordoned off and traffic was diverted to alternative routes taking into consideration the possibility of explosion." The LPG company was informed about the accident and asked to send empty tankers to unload the gas as fast as possible he elaborated.

"The tankers arrived and the whole amount of LPG was safely and professionally unloaded.

Brig Ghanim said initial investigations of the accident showed that the driver failed to tightly control the steering wheel.

"Luckily the whole tanker load was safely shifted to other tankers and the driver received no injuries at all" he said. The tanker was removed from the Gasidat roundabout after a four-hour blockage.

Ahmed Shaaban Originally from Egypt I have been in Dubai since December 2005. Before coming here I worked as an English language instructor chief En/Ar translator proofreader reporter in Egypt and Qatar. I have also worked as a reporter correspondent and simultaneous translator with two satellite channels in Dubai. I have a masters degree in media Cairo University 2014 a bachelor degree in English language and translation Ain Shams University Cairo 1996 and three post-graduate diplomas in English language and Instruction. With over 19 years of experience in translation interpretation EFL instruction and reporting. I am interested in technology aviation politics as well as community parliament and defence issues. I enjoy reading writing exercising and surfing the web.