An explosion at an illegal fuel storage site has claimed the lives of five people, including four women, in Omoku, headquarters of Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Local Government Area of Rivers State.
The blast, which occurred on Saturday around 11 AM, originated from a residential area reportedly used to store illegally refined petroleum products such as kerosene and condensate.
Dr. Fyneface Dumnamene, environmentalist and Executive Director of the Youths and Environmental Advocacy Centre (YEAC-Nigeria), confirmed the incident in a statement, explaining that the house served as an illegal depot where products were bought, stored, and resold.
“The inferno is said to have occurred in a house where people purchased and stored illegally refined petroleum products, including condensate, for resale,” the statement read.
Dumnamene called for a thorough investigation and urged the government to legalize modular refineries in the Niger Delta to curb pipeline vandalism and prevent future tragedies.
In his statement, he renewed the call for the establishment of the Presidential Artisanal Crude Oil Refining Development Initiative (PACORDI) to regulate and legalize artisanal refining in the region.
Meanwhile, the spokesperson for the Rivers State Police Command, Grace Iringe-Koko, confirmed the incident, revealing that the explosion was triggered when a resident lit a cooking stove to prepare noodles, sparking the fire that led to the tragedy.
“She and three other women, along with a female customer who came to purchase condensate, were burnt beyond recognition,” Iringe-Koko stated, adding that investigations are ongoing.
