• Police say victims were scooping fuel
The Rivers State Police Command has confirmed that 12 persons died in yesterday’s oil pipeline explosion at the Rumurkpe community in the Emuoha Local Council of Rivers State. The incident happened at a tap head of the Trans Niger Delta Pipeline (TNP) in the area.
The state Police Public Relations Officer, SP Grace Iringe-Koko, in a statement, said preliminary investigation revealed that the victims were scooping crude oil products when the explosion occurred. She also revealed that 12 people lost their lives while five vehicles, four tricycles and a motorcycle, were burnt.
She said: “Preliminary investigation by the Police Command indicates that the victims were scooping crude oil product when the fire was ignited. So far, about 12 persons are believed to have been burnt to death. The identities of the victims are still unknown.
Five vehicles, four tricycles, and one motorcycle were all burnt to ashes.”
Iringe-Koko, however, emphasised that the State Commissioner of Police has, again, admonished members of the public to stay away from illegal oil-bunkering, and report any incident or development they believe has the potential to lead to crime or break down of law and order.”
Earlier, a source explained that the explosion happened at about 2.00 a.m., yesterday when one of the buses that had finished loading crude oil to the area, where the refining would take place in artisanal refineries, kicked his vehicle and it immediately went up in flames.
He said the explosion left scores, including women dead. They were burnt beyond recognition, adding that many other vehicles and tricycles were burnt to ashes, at the tapping point said to be on the pipeline that passes through the community.
It would be recalled that a similar incident happened on October 22, 2021, when not less than 20 persons lost their lives.
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