A man stands at the scene of explosion in which over 100 people lost their lives, at an illegal crude oil bunkering site at Abaezi forest, in Ohaji-Egbema Local Government Area of Imo state, Nigeria 24 April 2022. Photo: Tife Owolabi / REUTERS
A man stands at the scene of explosion in which over 100 people lost their lives, at an illegal crude oil bunkering site at Abaezi forest, in Ohaji-Egbema Local Government Area of Imo state, Nigeria 24 April 2022. Photo: Tife Owolabi / REUTERS

YENAGAO, Nigeria, April 24 (Reuters) – Charred bodies were left scattered among burnt palms, cars and vans on Sunday after a weekend explosion which killed more than 100 people at an illegal oil refining depot on the border of Nigeria’s Rivers and Imo states.

Flip flops, bags, and clothing belonging to those who died littered the ground, which was blackened by oil and soot while still emitting smoke in some places despite overnight rain.

“There are so many people that died here. I’m pleading to the government to look into this,” Uche Woke, a commercial bike rider, told Reuters at the scene of the blast on Saturday night.

The Nigerian Red Cross Society was on the scene on Sunday to assess the blast, which destroyed a section of the Abaezi forest, which straddles the border of the Ohaji-Egbema Local Government Area of Imo state with Rivers state.

Fires burn and smoke pours into the night sky at the scene of an explosion at an illegal crude oil bunkering site at Abaezi forest, in Ohaji-Egbema Local Government Area of Imo state, Nigeria, 23 April 2022. More than 100 people lost their lives. Photo: REUTERS
Fires burn and smoke pours into the night sky at the scene of an explosion at an illegal crude oil bunkering site at Abaezi forest, in Ohaji-Egbema Local Government Area of Imo state, Nigeria, 23 April 2022. More than 100 people lost their lives. Photo: REUTERS

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari said in a statement that he would intensify the clampdown on illegal refineries after what he described as a “catastrophe” and “national disaster”.

Unemployment and poverty in the oil producing Niger Delta have made illegal refining attractive, but with often deadly consequences. Crude oil is tapped from a web of pipelines owned by major oil companies and refined in makeshift tanks.

The process has led to fatal accidents and polluted a region already blighted by oil spills in farmland, creeks, and lagoons.

The Youths and Environmental Advocacy Centre said several vehicles that were in a queue to buy illegal fuel were burnt.

“The fire outbreak occurred at an illegal bunkering site and it affected over 100 people,” Goodluck Opiah, the state commissioner for petroleum resources, said of the accident.

Members of the task force on illegal crude oil bunkering and artisanal refinery stand close to a distillation tank during the destruction of Bakana ii illegal artisanal camp in Okrika, Rivers state, Nigeria, 28 January 2022. Photo: Afolabi Sotunde / REUTERS
Members of the task force on illegal crude oil bunkering and artisanal refinery stand close to a distillation tank during the destruction of Bakana ii illegal artisanal camp in Okrika, Rivers state, Nigeria, 28 January 2022. Photo: Afolabi Sotunde / REUTERS

The border location is a reaction to a recent crackdown in Rivers on illegal refining in an effort to reduce worsening air pollution.

“In the last month or two, there were several raids and some security agents involved were tackled,” Ledum Mitee, former president of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP), said.

At least 25 people, including some children, were killed in an explosion and fire at another illegal refinery in Rivers state in October. [more]

Blast at illegal Nigerian oil refinery kills more than 100 people