Over 25 people, including minors, dead in illegal refinery blast in Rivers State

Uthman Salami & News Agency

Not less than 25 people, including some minors, were killed in an explosion and fire at an illegal oil refinery in Nigeria’s Rivers state last week.

This was according to a resident who confided in Reuters on Sunday.

According to Ifeanyi Omano who is a community leader, “The casualties involved are very high. We are counting 25 bodies,” Ifeanyi Omano, a community leader.

He said “We aren’t certain of their identities yet,” he said, adding that the dead included some minors.

Omano and local resident Chikwem Godwin said the explosion took place in the early hours of Friday, adding people from several communities were killed.

A local police spokesman previously confirmed the incident but did not disclose the numbers of casualties.

Illegal refining is common in the oil-rich Delta region of Nigeria as impoverished locals tap pipelines to make fuel to sell for a profit. The practice, which can be as basic as boiling crude oil in drums to extract fuel, is highly dangerous.