Lakes, March 3. At least 12 people died early Friday in an oil pipeline explosion in southern Rivers State, located in the oil-rich Niger Delta region, Nigerian police confirmed to EFE.
“We learned that twelve people were burned to death during the incident in the community of Rumuekpe in (the town of) Emohua,” Grace Iringe-Koko, a spokeswoman for the river police, told EFE. without giving further details, adding that seven vehicles were killed. also destroyed in the fire.
Also, through a statement released by local media, Iringe-Koko noted that “preliminary investigations by the police command indicate that the victims were extracting crude oil when the place caught fire”.
For his part, a resident of the affected commune named Azuka Pere, assured EFE by telephone that the explosion occurred around 02:00 local time (01:00 GMT) when “a bus loaded with crude illegally extracted from an oil pipeline located in the community suddenly caught fire, reducing the victims to ashes”.
The oil sector in Nigeria – Africa’s largest oil producer – is the target of strong criticism from local communities, who for years have denounced the great environmental damage caused by their activities, particularly in the south of the country.
Oil companies operating in the region, for their part, tend to attribute the spills that have occurred in recent decades to sabotage activities by thieves.EFE
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