No fewer than six persons have been confirmed dead after a devastating inferno surged from two petrol tankers, the victims were reportedly scooping diesel, this incident occurred at Eleme Local Government Area of Rivers State.
Africa Today News, New York gathered that the tankers contained 33,000 liters of supposed illegally refined Automotive Gas commonly called AGO was set ablaze by security operatives.
This incident happened at a prominent business center at the Eleme section of the East-West Road, in a bush near Trailer Park Junction.
A passerby named Gideon noted that drivers of the two fuel tankers were impelled at gunpoint to park their vehicle in the bush, where the security men torched the tankers.
Gideon said that the drivers may have moved away with some cash which prompted the security operatives’ action.
He said, ‘They (security men) forced the truck owners at gunpoint to drive to the point where this happened.’
‘Remember, things like this often happen when the tanker drivers refuse to settle them for the amount of money they demand from them.’
‘I saw many residents scooping and transporting it (fuel) away. As the fire was set on the tankers, they started to burn, exploded and the products spilled. They scooped it at a distance while it was burning.’
He further said since the AGO did not burn quickly as petrol, especially as it was wrongly refined, it was easier for locals to scoop the product as it gushed out from the truck into drainages.
Speaking on the development, an activist and executive director, Youths and Environmental Advocacy Centre, Fyneface Dumnamene, criticized the action of the security operatives.
Dumnamene advocated a provision in the Petroleum Industry Act, where security officials who set ablaze petrol tankers and vessels should be tried in court.
He explained that security agents should face legal actions under the PIA, since host community people who caused pollution could forfeit their three per cent as stipulated in the Act.
‘The burning of two tankers of 33,000 liters each has caused the spilling of 66,000 liters of AGO into the environment.’
‘So, if the PIA says communities will be criminalized and penalized even with the withholding of the per cent, then we can see how to push this advocacy for security officials that set ablaze tankers and vessels to also be dragged to court under this Act.’
‘In fact, they can set ablaze tankers, but they should not spill its contents.’
‘The number one reason for confiscating and impounding the tankers is because they’re allegedly carrying illegal petroleum products.’
‘The reason for setting it ablaze is a combination of the fact that it is carrying illegal petroleum products and they also refused to settle them with something substantial, thus wasting their time,’ he said.
On the number casualty, he said about six persons, including a security personnel lost their lives, while others were hospitalized in an unrevealed facility on Sunday.
Dumnamene added, ‘As a result of the increased product scooping activity, with some of the scoopers climbing the tankers that were still standing with some product in them, an explosion occurred in the process, leading to the alleged deaths, burns and injuries to those caught in the fire including a dead body said to be in security uniform.’
He further said firefighters arrived at the scene put out the fire.
When he reached to Grace Iringe-Koko, the spokesperson of the state police command, he confirmed the incident but said she was yet to get the actual number of fatalities.