An explosion suspected to have been triggered by illegally refined petroleum products has claimed the lives of five persons, including four women, in Omoku, headquarters of Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Local Government Area of Rivers State.
The incident, which occurred around 11am on Saturday, was confirmed by the Youths and Environmental Advocacy Centre (YEAC-Nigeria) and the One Million Youth Volunteers Network.
Executive Director of YEAC-Nigeria, Dr Fyneface Dumnamene, in a statement, said the explosion took place in a residential building where illegally refined petroleum products, including condensate, were being stored for resale.
He said, “The Youths and Environmental Advocacy Centre (YEAC-Nigeria) has received and confirmed reports of an explosion and fire incident at a storage of illegally refined petroleum products in Omoku, Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Local Government Area (ONELGA) of Rivers State.”
Dumnamene further explained that the fire erupted when a resident attempted to prepare a meal using a cooking stove, which ignited the stored products.
Meanwhile, spokesperson for the Rivers State Police Command, Grace Iringe-Koko, confirmed the explosion and the casualty figure in a statement on Saturday.
Iringe-Koko said, “What really caused the fire was that a resident brought a cooking stove to the place and was preparing noodles, which ignited the fire.
“She and three other women were burnt beyond recognition and sadly lost their lives, including one of them who came to buy condensate (illegally refined kerosene). Investigation is ongoing.”
Following the tragic incident, Dr Dumnamene renewed calls on the Federal Government to legalise artisanal crude oil refining activities in the Niger Delta to curb such occurrences.
He said, “We also used the opportunity to renew our call on the federal government to legalise artisanal refineries in the Niger Delta through the establishment of the proposed Presidential Artisanal Crude Oil Refining Development Initiative (PACORDI) and/or modular refineries for artisanal refiners in Nigeria’s Niger Delta region to mitigate incidents of this nature.”
As of the time of filing this report, the identities of the deceased had yet to be officially disclosed.
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