At least 37 people reportedly died after inhaling petroleum product vapours at a jetty in Rivers State’s Okrika Local Government Area.
The Rivers oil tragedy occurred on Thursday at Okari Jetty in the Okrika Mainland area. Reports said youths from Okrika and nearby communities had gathered to transport petroleum products from an illegal tapping point.
Many more people were also reported missing after the incident in the coastal community.
A community source told our reporter that more than 100 people rushed to the jetty in locally made boats while a vessel anchored along the riverbank prepared to load petroleum products.
According to accounts, a strong odour suddenly filled the air as the youths loaded the petroleum products, causing several people to lose consciousness.
“Many of them collapsed into the river, while others who managed to escape the scene had serious respiratory disorders and were being treated at the hospital.
“As I speak to you, over 37 bodies were identified as Okrika people, while six others were yet to be identified and many are still missing,” the source, who pleaded anonymity, said.
The Youths and Environmental Advocacy Center (YEAC-Nigeria) also confirmed the incident. It said its network of young volunteers and human rights advocates across the Niger Delta reported that at least 37 people suspected of involvement in illicit oil activities died after inhaling what locals called “Indorama fuel.”
In a statement, YEAC-Nigeria Executive Director Dr. Fyneface Dumnamene said the incident occurred around midnight on Thursday at Okari Jetty.
Dumnamene said the victims connected a pipe to a tapping point on a pipeline carrying petroleum products from the Indorama Eleme Petrochemical plant to ships that reportedly arrived every two weeks to load products for export through the Port Harcourt Refinery.
Backstory…
The deaths in Okrika following the most recent Rivers oil tragedy is not an isolated incident. For years, people living in the Niger Delta have faced the consequences of oil extraction, pipeline leaks, illegal refining, oil bunkering and the fumes produced by petroleum-related activities.
According to Amnesty International, in some parts of the Niger Delta, communities have lived alongside oil pollution for decades, with Amnesty International documenting more than five decades of contamination in Ogoni communities and the resulting threats to livelihoods, clean water and health.
The problem has also evolved beyond conventional oil spills. The growth of illegal oil refining and crude-oil theft has introduced another source of pollution.
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