Five persons have been reportedly killed in a petroleum explosion that occured Saturday, in Omoku, Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Local Government Area of Rivers State.
It was gathered that the incident which happened at about 11am, burnt the victims beyond recognition, including four female and male.
Spokesperson of the State Police Command, SP Grace Iringe-Koko, who confirmed the incident, said that it was caused by illegally refined kerosene on a cooking stove.
She said: “I can confirm the incident and that it was caused by bad Kerosene in a cooking stove.
“Report reaching me from our Omoku Station said the people were trying to cook indomie (noodles) with the kerosene in a stove when fire erupted in the house, razing down the house and killing the people.”
The police spokesperson revealed that investigation has commenced to unravel the caused of fire.
Meanwhile, a civil society group, Youths and Environmental Advocacy Centre (YEAC-Nigeria) that had earlier sent monitors to the incident area, had disclosed that the explosion was caused by stored illegally refined petroleum products.
The Executive Director of the group, Dumnamene Fyneface, said “the incident occurred in a house where people purchased and stored illegally refined petroleum products including condensate for resale in the area”.
He explained that “the incident occurred on April 26 at about 11am, killing five persons, four females and one male burnt beyond recognition”.
Calling for investigation into the incident, the Advocacy Centre warns 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 reiterated 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 incidents of this nature”.
Blessing Ibunge
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