Illegal oil-siphoning is a major problem in Nigeria – an OPEC member and one of Africa’s largest petroleum producers – causing serious pollution, TRT World reported.
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Accidents are common in swamps in the Niger Delta, where smugglers tap into pipelines to steal crude and refine it into fuel for sale.
The Youths and Environmental Advocacy Centre (YEAC-Nigeria) said it had “received and confirmed a report from its network of youth volunteers and human rights defenders in the Niger Delta in the Okrika Local Government Area of Rivers State that some persons, not fewer than 37 have been confirmed dead after inhaling ‘Indorama fuel’.”
It said in a statement that those killed are “suspected to be oil thieves”, adding: “Many others are still missing.”
It said “youths had connected a pipe to a tapping point on a pipeline that normally transports” crude from producer Indorama Eleme Petrochemical through the Port Harcourt Refinery to vessels loading for export.
The men tapped into the pipeline and were loading oil into their own boats, it said.
“Many are still missing, and some corpses have been seen floating on the river but have not yet been recovered,” the organisation said.
