Many people are feared dead after a crude oil tapping point in a Rivers State Community exploded.
The incident happened at Rumuekpe Community in Emohua Local Government Area of the state in the early hours of Friday.
It was gathered that the explosion occurred when one of the buses loaded with crude oil ‘packaged in bags’ to transport to a refining site had started his engine.
Fyneface Dumnamene, environmentalist and executive director of Youths and Environmental Advocacy Centre, confirmed the incident to newsmen.
The tapping point is said to be on the Trans-Niger Delta Pipeline (TNP) that passed through the community.
Dumnamene said the explosion occurred at around 2 am when one of the buses carrying crude oil to another location for artisanal refining kickstarted its ignition system.
He said the report of the incident was obtained through the centre’s crude oil spill alert system (COSAS) and members of its “one million youth volunteers network of human rights defenders and promoters in the Niger Delta” in the community.
The environmentalist added that the incident has left dozens, including women, dead and burnt beyond recognition.
He also said many vehicles and tricycles were burnt to ashes.
“All those who were at the exact tapping point in the “pit” got killed while some of those who had loaded the crude and waiting to load including women have been killed by the explosion,” Dumnamene said.
“Advocacy centre can confirm from the eyewitness information and other sources that confirmed the incident at the community that men of the Nigeria arm area (sic) already at the scene of the incident with the police said to be on the way to the scene making it difficult for photographs and videos to be taken.”
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