Explosion rocks Rivers community, kills five persons

At least five persons were reported dead when an explosion occurred at a place where illegal petroleum products were stored at a residential home.

The Youths and Environmental Advocacy Centre (YEAC-Nigeria) confirmed the reports of the 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 in the area.

Dr. Fyneface Dumnamene Fyneface, in a statement on Saturday, said that the incident occurred in the late hours of Saturday, April 26, at about 11 am., killing five persons, four females and one male burnt beyond recognition.

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While calling for investigation into the incident, the Advocacy Centre warned residents and youths 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.

The group also took the opportunity to renew its 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 against incidents of this nature.

When contacted, the police public relations officer, PPRO, Rivers State police command, Grace Iringe-Koko, confirmed the explosion, saying that “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,” she said.

According to the PPRO, four persons lost their lives in the unfortunate incident and promised that “police will investigate the matter.”