No fewer than 37 persons have died, and many others were missing after inhaling fumes from a petroleum product at a jetty in the Okrika Local Government Area of Rivers State.
The incident occurred on Thursday when youths from Okrika and neighbouring communities in the Okari Jetty in the Okrika Mainland area reportedly gathered to load a petroleum product from an illegal tapping point.
A source in the community said more than 100 people had stormed the jetty in locally made boats while a vessel was anchored on the riverside to load petroleum products.
According to the source, trouble began while the youths were loading the product, when a strong smell suddenly filled the air, causing several of them to collapse.
“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 said.
The Executive Director of Youths and Environmental Advocacy Center (YEAC-Nigeria), Dr. Fyneface Dumnamene, who also confirmed the incident in a statement, said that it occurred at about midnight on Thursday at the Okari Jetty.
Dumnamene said the victims had connected a pipe to a tapping point on a pipeline that transported petroleum products from the Indorama Eleme Petrochemical through the Port Harcourt Refinery to vessels that reportedly came every two weeks to load products for export.
He stated that the youths inhaled the product while a vessel was loading and they were simultaneously loading it into their waiting boats from the illegal tapping point.
“This led to the death of not fewer than 37 persons suspected to be oil thieves died after inhaling what is locally called ‘Indorama Fuel.’ Many are still missing, and some corpses have been seen floating on the river but have not yet been recovered,” he stated.
Dumnamene urged the company that owned the vandalized facilities to provide adequate security for its pipelines to prevent a recurrence, and called on the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency to immediately conduct a joint investigative visit to the incident site.
The YEAC-Nigeria boss condemned the alleged sabotage, warning youths to stay away from oil and gas infrastructure due to the dangers posed by high-pressure pipelines.
He also called for alternative livelihood opportunities for youths in the Niger Delta, including establishing modular refineries and legalizing artisanal refining.
When contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer, Rivers State Police Command, Assistant Superintendent of Police, Blessing Agabe, confirmed the incident and said the victims were reportedly attempting to steal crude oil.
ASP Agabe said no official complaint had been lodged with the command, though an investigation had commenced.
“The suspects reportedly died in the process of attempting to steal crude oil. However, no official complaint has been received regarding the incident at this time.
“Investigation is ongoing to establish the circumstances surrounding the incident and ascertain the facts,” she said.
However, the Commander of the Civilian JTF in Okrika LGA, Igwe Godswill, said the victims had gone to scoop petroleum products that had spilled into the river when they were allegedly overwhelmed by fumes from a vessel loading products at the jetty.
The Commander of the Civilian JTF described the incident as tragic, stressing that most of the victims were youths searching for means of livelihood due to lack of employment opportunities.
Godswill stated that: “it is so pathetic that this incident is happening in our community. These are young guys who have gone to search for their daily bread, only for the fumes from the fuel that was pumped to kill so many of our youths under the bridge.
“Many of them were choked to death. These are not criminals or anything, but they went out in search of their daily meal. I am advising the community, the leaders and every other person that we need legitimate jobs in the community.
“These things are risky, but when you cannot feed your children, most times, those risky jobs become the only option”.
He explained that the victims had gone to scoop petroleum products floating on the water when they were overcome by fumes from a vessel loading petroleum products at the jetty.
Godswill, however, said about 10 bodies had been recovered, saying only some of the victims could be identified because of the condition of their remains.
“We saw about 10 of them. Four were still unrecognizable, while four persons were identified. The rest could not be identified because their bodies were badly damaged and their faces were severely affected,” he said.
He called on the Rivers State Government, community leaders and other relevant authorities to create employment opportunities for youths in the area to discourage them from engaging in dangerous activities.
“I am calling on the relevant authorities, community leaders, the chairman and every other person to look into this. It is not enough to stop them because, yes, it is a risky job, but they should create jobs for the youth so that everybody will have something to eat.
“Something that can put food on the tables of these young men, the youths and every other person. I can tell you for free that it will not just stop because when that source is the only livelihood, people will still go there.
“Even as of yesterday, people still went there, despite the fact that we had confirmed that people had died from the same activity. So, we are calling on the leaders to look into it and see how they can create job opportunities, especially for the youths,” Godswill said.
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