Following an explosion from an illegal oil tapping point in Omoku, Ogba/Egebema/Ndoni Local Government Area of Rivers State, at least twenty people have died.
Many of the young people began using buckets and jerry cans to scoop petrol when catastrophe struck. It was said that the incident happened on Sunday morning after the teenagers allegedly destroyed a pipeline owned by one of the international oil companies operating in the area.
While 20 people are believed to be dead, according to an eyewitness, several of them had burns of differing degrees and are currently undergoing care at many local hospitals.
“It is a very terrible incident. Imagine the death of 20 people in such a time. We learned some youths bust a company pipeline.
“If you go to the General Hospital and other private clinics in Omoku, you will see many of the injured people scattered all over the place in both government and private hospitals taking treatment,” the source added.
A resident who spoke to newsmen said the inferno occurred as a result of attempts by suspected oil thieves to light mosquito coils.
He stated, “The leakage was from an obsolete pipeline belonging to one of the oil companies operating in the area.”
Speaking, the chairman of Niger Delta Youth Movement, ONELGA chapter, Emeka Ukwuosah, advised youths in the area to engage in meaningful activities and shun oil bunkering.
