(CBS 3) PHILADELPHIA An investigation is underway after several Philadelphia motorists were stranded Thursday after filling their cars with contaminated gasoline.
Drivers filling up their tanks at the Rising Sun Gas and Food Mart in Lawncrest section of the city found they were going nowhere fast.
Approximately 12 cars were stranded after filling up with gasoline contaminated with water. Almost one-thousand gallons of water was mixed into a tank that holds ten-thousand gallons of gas.
The mixture caused the vehicles’ engines to stall while at the station located at the intersection Rising Sun and Godfrey Ave.
A motorist described what happened as she tried to drive off saying, “When I tried to start it, the engine started shaking and then all of the sudden, I had shut off the engine, so when I shut off the engine, I tried to restart it again and it just wouldn’t start up.
Customers affected by the fuel waited for hours in the cold for their cars to be towed.
Station representatives say they received the contaminated shipment of fuel from their distributor Arfa around 3:30 p.m. Thursday.
“All of the customers that received bad gas will be getting all of their money back and we will be covering all of their towing fees and we will be covering any damages that was done to their car,” said Rising Sun manager Harry Sandhu. “This is the first time that any of this has ever happened.”
The Department of Licenses and Inspections says it will take a few days to determine how the gas became mixed with water in the first place.
City officials say they do not believe foul play is involved.
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