Nigerian Oil Pipeline Fire Leaves 18 Dead
Eighteen people were killed in another oil-products pipeline fire in southern Nigeria, where hundreds have died in similar disasters in recent months, newspapers reported Tuesday.
Navy officials in the southern port city of Calabar confirmed that the accident occurred Saturday in the nearby village of Ekorinim, but they had no information on casualties or other details.
As in similar disasters in Nigeria’s oil-producing areas, those killed were villagers scavenging for gushing gasoline from a ruptured pipeline, according to the newspapers.
But the pipeline at Ekorinim had burst as a result of corrosion and had not been deliberately punctured by fuel thieves blamed for similar acts in the oil-rich Niger Delta, the reports said. The cause of the fire was not known.
“Buckets, drums and other containers used by the villagers to scoop petroleum products littered the scene of the incident,” the independent daily This Day reported.
Villagers, taking advantage of a thriving black market for petroleum products in Nigeria, have resorted to illegal tapping of pipelines that crisscross the West African country.
Accidental fires have killed hundreds of villagers scavenging for gasoline at damaged or vandalized pipelines.
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