Five burnt to death as explosion hits illegal refinery in Rivers
No fewer than five suspected illegal oil refiners were burnt to death on Friday following a fire explosion that occurred at an illegal refining site in Rumuekpe, Emohua Local Government Area of Rivers State.
It was gathered that the incident occurred when one of the pots used in cooking crude oil at the site exploded and caused fire without any prior signal.
The site in Rumuekpe where the incident occurred is said to be one of the hundreds of illegal make-shift refineries popularly referred to as Kpofire in the Niger Delta region.
The commander of the local vigilante group in Rumuekpe community, Frank Nwazimutor, who confirmed the development, said at least five persons have been confirmed dead while over 20 others sustained various degrees of burns.
Nwazimutor disclosed that four of the victims were members of Rumuekpe community while others were not indigenes of the community and were yet to be identified.
He attributed the incident to lack of employment and empowerment opportunities for the people by the government and the oil companies operating in Rumuekpe.
“The fire outbreak was caused by the kpofire business that they do. There was a fire outbreak that caused loss of lives. It is not true that up to 20 persons have died. 22 persons were burnt but the dead body we have counted now is five,” the vigilante group commander said.
According to him, “Some are from our community and others are outsiders, others we cannot identify who were caught up in the fire. That is where the problem lies right now.
“The community is not too tense, rather, where the pressure is, is in the forest where the bunkering business is going on. Inside the community, it is calm.”
Rumuekpe community is part of OML 58 host communities hosting TotalEnergies/NNPC Joint Venture.
The community plays host to a number of oil and gas pipelines, flow station, oil wells and other facilities operated by the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited, Nigerian Agip Oil Company and the Nigeria LNG Limited, among others.
