NIGERIA: Five killed by explosion of leaking pipeline

PORT HARCOURT, NIGERIA, 26 September (IRIN) - At least five people were killed when a leaking oil pipeline exploded and caught fire in southeastern Nigeria last week after it had been spilling crude oil into a river for two days, local residents reported.

They told IRIN that the explosion happened near the Niger delta town of Nembe in Bayelsa State, 80 km southwest of Nigeria's oil capital Port Harcourt, on 19 September.

The oil had been leaking from the Brass-Ogoda pipeline owned by the Italian oil company Agip and was thought to have been ignited by a fisherman's lamp, the residents said.

The charred bodies of two adults, two teenagers and a baby were recovered after the explosion and six other people were missing, they added.

Local resident Stephen Beregha said the people of Nembe were annoyed with Agip because the accident happened two days after the spill occurred and the oil company had been informed about it immediately.

Agip promptly sent teams by boat and helicopter to photograph the scene, but only dispatched a team from the US oil servicing firm Wilbros to put out the fire and repair the pipeline last Tuesday - a week later.

Young Ezekiel, a local youth leader, said: "What we do not understand is why Agip did not come immediately to clean the place or put out warning signals to villagers of the danger of doing anything near the oil spill."

"The spill was huge and about one foot thick in some places and the dispersal dynamic was quite frightening," he added.

Oronto Douglas, deputy director of the Environmental Rights Action pressure group, condemned Agip for only responding to the spill seven days after it occurred.

The company's Brass-Ogoda pipeline is notorious for causing large oil spills. Three years ago, another fire on the pipeline near Nembe killed eight people and destroyed 100 hectares of mangrove swamp.

Oil spills from leaking pipelines are common in southeastern Nigeria. They frequently cause explosions and fires that result in horrendous casualties.

Last June, 125 people were killed when a leaking pipeline exploded at Onicha-Amaiyi village in Abia state. Several hundred people had gathered there to scoop up petrol spilling from a deliberately made hole in the pipeline.

More than 2,000 have been killed by pipeline fires in Nigeria over the past four years.

Oil companies complain that many of the oil spills which cause them are the result of thieves tapping into pipelines to steal fuel.

However, local residents frequently accuse the oil companies of being slow to repair damage and clean up the environment after they have been informed about pipeline leaks and pollution.
[ENDS]

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