Okrika Local Government Area of Rivers State is cold with shock today as more than 40 youths died in just minutes. They inhaled petroleum products believed to be crude oil.
According to the report, over 100 young people from Okrika and it’s neighbouring communities stormed Okari jetty to tap oil. There’s a pipeline that transports petroleum products from Indorama Eleme Petrochemical facility to the Port Harcourt Refinery from Okari. So the people went to steal the petroleum products at that pipeline.
As they were loading the products into the boats they came with, a strong, strange odour suddenly enveloped the area and forced many of the youths to instant death. Few managed not collapsing at the spot, but not even a single person was spare. Some fell few yards away from the pipeline, while some others were left half-dead by the time they were taking to the hospitals.
The spokesperson of the Rivers state police command, SP Blessing Agabe, confirmed the ugly incident to newsmen, with promise that the police were already on their toes to “ascertain the facts”.
“The suspects reportedly died in the process of attempting to steal crude oil. However, no official complaint has been received in connection with the incident at this time. Investigation is ongoing to establish the circumstances surrounding the incident and ascertain the facts,” Agabe said.