LAGOS (AFP) – An explosion at an unlawful oil refinery in southern Nigeria has killed at least 80 folks, the emergency services mentioned on Sunday (April 24).
The explosion occurred late on Friday on the unlawful website between the southern oil states of Rivers and Imo, police mentioned.
“We recovered at least 80 badly burnt bodies at the scene,” Ifeanyi Nnaji of the National Emergency Management Agency (Nema) in the realm, instructed AFP, including that the toll may rise additional.
“We learnt many bodies are in nearby bushes and forests as some illegal operators and their patrons scampered for safety.”
Nnaji mentioned that a number of burnt autos and jerry-cans used in scooping stolen crude and petroleum merchandise littered the scene.
The incident is the newest to hit oil-rich Nigeria in current years.
According to native media studies, greater than 100 folks had been killed in the blast.
Illegal crude refining is frequent in the southern-oil area the place thieves vandalise pipelines to steal crude which they refine to promote on the black market.
Most folks in the oil-producing Niger delta dwell in poverty regardless that the nation is the most important oil producer on the continent, with output of round two million barrels per day.
