Illegal Fuel Tapping On Christmas Sunday Ends In Disaster

An illegal fuel tapping exercise on Christmas Sunday from vandalised pipelines has resulted in disaster.

About 30 persons have been reportedly burnt to death, while many others are writing in pains having sustained various degrees of injuries.

An explosion that emanated from the affected pipelines, and associated deaths have shaken  Omoku, Ogba/Egebema/Ndoni Local Government Area of Rivers State to great extent

The illegal fuel tapping on Christmas Sunday were on pipelines belonging to one of the multinational oil companies in the area.

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Immediately the pipelines were breached, according to the reports, many people converged there and started tapping fuel, before the worse happened.

 “It is a very terrible incident. Imagine the death of more than 30 people at such a time as this.

“We learned that some youths bust an oil company’s pipeline.

“If you go to the General Hospital and other private clinics in Omoku, you will see many of the injured people scattered all over the place in both government and private hospitals”, said an eyewitness who spoke to Vanguard.

 “The leakage was from an obsolete pipeline belonging to one of the oil companies operating in the area”, another source said.

However, reacting to the tragedy from the illegal Fuel tapping on Christmas Sunday, the chairman of the Niger Delta Youth Movement, ONELGA chapter, Emeka Ukwuosah, advised youths in the area to engage in meaningful activities and shun oil bunkering.

 “Let me join in condemning the oil bunkering going on within ONELGA. And we are also calling on the security agencies to be up and doing to checkmate what is happening within that circle.

READ ALSO: “Secondly, we are also calling on the multinationals that own the oil facilities to overhaul their aging facilities to forestall such incidents”, he reportedly said.

The Assistant Secretary of a vigilante group in the area, Onelga Security Peace Advisory Council, Emeka Agbabere, also reportedly blamed the incident on illegal oil bunkering, adding that leaders in the community had warned against such practices before now.