At least five persons were reported dead when explosion occured at a residential home where illegal petroleum products were stored.
The Youths and Environmental Advocacy Centre, YEAC-Nigeria, confirmed the incident, saying there was explosion and fire incident at a storage of illegally refined product in Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Local Government Area, ONELGA, of Rivers State.
The inferno was said to have occurred in a house where people purchased and stored illegally refined petroleum products including condensate for resale.
Fyneface Fyneface, in a statement, said that the incident occurred in the late hours of Saturday, April 26, at about 11 am, killing five persons including four females and one male burnt beyond recognition.
While calling for investigation into the incident, the centre warned residents against involvement in pipeline vandalism, crude oil theft, artisanal refineries and trading in illegally refined petroleum products including home storage to avoid ugly incidents of this nature.
YEAC-Nigeria also urged the Federal Government to legalise artisanal refineries in the Niger Delta through the establishment of its July 27, 2020, proposed Presidential Artisanal Crude Oil Refining Development Initiative, PACORDI, and/or Modular Refineries for artisanal Refiners in Nigeria’s Niger Delta region to mitigate against incidents of this nature.
When contacted, the police public relations officer, Rivers State police command, Grace Iringe-Koko, confirmed the explosion, saying, “It was a condensate kerosene product that was stored to be sold. Somebody brought a lighted stove close to the place where the product was stored to cook indomie and that ignited the fire. Four persons lost their lives in the unfortunate incident.”
She, however, promised that “police will investigate the matter.”