Illegal refinery blast in Nigeria kills not less than 12, says cops

The explosion in Emuoha council space of the southern Rivers state occurred alongside a pipeline focused by unlawful refinery operators who had been attempting to steal oil.

New Delhi,UPDATED: Mar 4, 2023 03:09 IST

Fire fighters and safety officers are seen on the website of an unlawful refinery explosion In Emuoha council space of the southern Rivers, Nigeria, Friday, March 3, 2023 (Photo: AP)

By Associated Press: An explosion and hearth close to an unlawful oil refinery website in Nigeria’s Niger Delta area killed not less than 12 individuals Friday, police stated, though native residents reported a a lot greater demise toll.

The explosion in Emuoha council space of the southern Rivers state occurred alongside a pipeline focused by unlawful refinery operators who had been attempting to steal oil, state police spokesperson Grace Iringe-Koko stated.

“Preliminary investigation by the Police Command indicates that the victims were scooping crude products when the site caught fire,” Iringe-Koko stated.

Five autos, 4 auto-rickshaws and a bike “were all burned to ashes,” she stated, including that authorities had been working to find out how many individuals died.

People within the space informed The Associated Press that dozens might have died within the hearth that raged for hours and that the victims had been principally younger individuals who deliberate to siphon oil from a pipeline and to move to an unlawful refinery website in not less than 5 autos.

Fyneface Dumnamene, govt director of Youths and Environmental Advocacy Centre, stated a spark from the exhaust pipe of a bus loaded with gallons of crude oil ignited the explosion as the motive force tried to depart.

“Everybody in about five vehicles there was all burnt,” Dumnamene informed the AP.

ALSO READ | 16 Indian sailors detained in Equatorial Guinea cry for assist, ship out SOS

Residents rushed in to attempt to rescue a few of these on the scene, however the explosion was “a massive one which shook our buildings,” stated Issac Amaechi, who lives within the space.

Illegal refineries are a profitable enterprise in Nigeria, one in all Africa’s high oil producers. They are extra rampant within the oil-rich Niger Delta area, the place many of the nation’s oil amenities are positioned.

The employees at such amenities hardly ever adhere to security requirements, resulting in frequent fires, together with one in Imo state final yr by which greater than 100 individuals had been killed.

Nigeria misplaced not less than $3 billion price of crude oil to theft between January 2021 and February 2022. Shady enterprise operators typically keep away from regulators by establishing refineries in distant areas such because the one in Imo, the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) stated final yr.

ALSO READ | 50 killed as explosion rocks central Nigeria

Published On:

Mar 4, 2023