Five people, including four women, lost their lives on Saturday following an explosion in a residential area of Omoku, the headquarters of Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Local Government Area of Rivers State.
Reports indicate that the explosion occurred inside a room used for storing illegally refined petroleum products.
Dr. Fyneface Dumnamene, an environmentalist and Executive Director of the Youths and Environmental Advocacy Centre (YEAC-Nigeria), confirmed the incident in a statement on Saturday.
He explained that the occupants often bought illegally refined kerosene and other petroleum products, stored them, and resold them to the public.
Dumnamene further warned against pipeline vandalism and illegal refining activities, calling on the Federal Government to legalize modular refineries in the Niger Delta region to prevent future tragedies.
In his statement, Dumnamene said, “The Youths and Environmental Advocacy Centre (YEAC-Nigeria) has received and confirmed reports of an explosion and fire incident at a storage of illegally refined petroleum products in Omoku, Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Local Government Area (ONELGA) of Rivers State.”
“The inferno is said to have occurred in a house where people purchased and stored illegally refined petroleum products, including condensate, for resale in the area.”
He added that members of the Centre’s youth volunteers network in ONELGA informed him that the explosion happened around 11 AM on Saturday, April 26, resulting in the deaths of five people — four women and one man — who were burnt beyond recognition.
Dumnamene called for a full investigation and urged residents, especially young people, to avoid pipeline vandalism, oil theft, artisanal refining, and trading in illegally refined products.
He said, “We also used the opportunity to renew our call on 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 incidents of this nature.”
The spokesperson for the Rivers State Police Command, Grace Iringe-Koko, also confirmed the incident and the number of casualties. She disclosed that the explosion was caused by a resident using a cooking stove to prepare noodles near the storage site.
Iringe-Koko explained, “What really caused the fire was that a resident brought a cooking stove to the place and was preparing noodles, which ignited the fire.”
“She and three other women were burnt beyond recognition, and sadly, they lost their lives, including one of them who came to buy condensate (illegally refined kerosene). Investigation is ongoing.”
