No fewer than 12 people were killed in Rivers
State from oil pipeline explosion.
The Rivers State Police Command that the explosion occurred during an oil activities at in an illegal oil bunkering site in the early hours of Friday in the Rumuekpe community, in the Emohua Local Government Area of the state.
The police said victims were scooping crude
products when the explosion occurred.
According to the police spokesperson in the
state, Grace Iringe-Koko, said in Port Harcourt on Friday that the identities of the
victim were unknown.
“Preliminary
research by the Police Command suggests that the victims have been
scooping crude oil when the site caught
fire.
“Five
vehicles, four Tricycles (Keke NAPEPs), and one motorcycle were all burned to
ashes,” Mrs Iringe-Koko, a police superintendent, said.
A source said the explosion occurred at
around 2am today, Friday March 3, 2023, when one of the buses loaded with oil,
on its way to another area where refining will take place at artisanal
refineries, kicked his vehicle and caused an explosion.
An explosion and fire that burned to ash
dozens of people, including women, unrecognizable people and many other vehicles and tricycles at an inlet point believed to be on the Trans
Niger Delta Pipeline (TNP), the runs through the community.
Over the years the Government has put effort
to stop illegal oil bunkering, refining and pipeline sabotage, but it has been
on the increase in the oil-producing Niger Delta despite efforts by the
government at tackling the menace.
Often security agents have uncovered crude
oil being tapped from pipelines owned by oil companies in the area and refined
into products in makeshift tanks.
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