About 37 persons have reportedly died after inhaling fumes from a petroleum product at a jetty in Okrika Local Government Area of Rivers State.
The incident occurred on Thursday at the Okari Jetty in the Okrika Mainland area, where youths from Okrika and neighbouring communities had reportedly gathered to load a petroleum product from an illegal tapping point.
Many others were said to be missing following the incident, which occurred in the mainly coastal community.
A source in the community told our reporter that more than 100 persons had stormed the jetty with locally made boats while a vessel was anchored at the riverside to load petroleum products.
The source said trouble started while the youths were loading the product, as a strong smell suddenly saturated 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, who pleaded anonymity, said.
The Youths and Environmental Advocacy Centre also confirmed the incident, saying its network of youth volunteers and human rights defenders in the Niger Delta had reported that no fewer than 37 persons suspected of involvement in illegal oil activities died after inhaling what was locally referred to as “Indorama fuel.”
The Executive Director of YEAC-Nigeria, Dr Fyneface Dumnamene, said in a statement that the incident occurred at about midnight on Thursday at the Okari Jetty.
“According to the report, no fewer than 37 persons suspected to be oil thieves died after inhaling what is locally called ‘Indorama Fuel.’
“Many others are still missing. The incident occurred during the illegal loading of the product into a ship at a tapping point,” he said.
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 added 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. Many are still missing, and some corpses have been seen floating on the river but have not yet been recovered,” he stated.
