Youth evacuate 40 burnt bodies from pipeline explosion scene

By Amaka Agbu, Port Harcourt

In spite of the fresh fire that started on Monday at the scene of the pipeline explosion in Kom Kom community in Oyigbo Local Government Area of Rivers state, the youth in the community have continued with the evacuation of corpses without professional help.

The deadly fire broke out around 7.30 am last Saturday when a pipeline located in a swampy area of Kom Kom community due to causes yet to be determined by the relevant authorities exploded.

Leader of the youth evacuation team, Ethel Nwokoria, told journalists yesterday, that eight more corpses have been evacuated bringing the total number of victims recovered from the pipeline explosion to 40.

He said: “When they called us to come and help evacuate the corpses, I picked three boys plus me; that’s four. The boys were scared, saying they had never carried corpses before, but with persuasions they joined me. We brought out eight burnt corpses today. Yesterday were 32. There are more corpses there to be identified and evacuated.”

Meanwhile, some of the residents of Harmony Avenue and other areas close to the scene of the incident have expressed health concerns over the decaying corpses.

One of them who pleaded anonymity complained that “people around cannot stay here because of the odour coming from the bodies that are beginning to decompose and they were all human beings. Government would have to come and pick up the corpses. They don’t have to wait for them to be called.”

Another resident said that “People living around here cannot sleep because of the odour. Human beings are inside there. Government should know what to do. They should come and excavate this place, keep it clean. This is a swampy area and it is too harmful for human habitation. Many people are living around so they should come and excavate these dead bodies.”

For now, the South-South Zonal Director of the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSTRA), Cyrus Nkagwu, said yesterday that the committee would begin the investigation to unravel the cause of the explosion later this week to allow the company in charge of the pipeline to completely put out the fire and certify the area safe.

“Yes we came to look at the area. The terrain is swampy. Actually, we were speculating before, but now we have come to see that the light has almost been put out. By the end of today, with the work they are doing right now, they will stop the fire, then as regulatory body we will come back within the week to ascertain concretely what caused the spill. This will enable us to say exactly what the issues are.

“The damaged pipeline sparked fresh fire stalling the proposed visit by the investigation team of NOSTRA to the scene of the explosion,” he added.