By Eric Moore
FIVE people were on Saturday burnt to death following gas explosion from a retailing outlet in Omoku, Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Local Government Area (ONELGA), Rivers State.
Pentoks News gathered that the explosion occurred at an illegally refined petroleum product storage, killing four females and a male.
Meanwhile, the Youths and Environmental Advocacy Centre (YEAC-Nigeria) has confirmed the explosion and inferno, which also razed the mini depot.
The group said the inferno was said to have occurred in a house where people purchased and stored illegally refined petroleum products including condensate for resale in the area.
Members of the Advocacy Centre youth volunteers network under the auspices of the One Million Youth Volunteers Network of Human Rights Defenders and Promoters in the Niger Delta in ONELGA told the Executive Director of YEAC-Nigeria, Dr. Fyneface Dumnamene Fyneface that the incident occurred in the late hours of Saturday, April 26, killing five persons, four females and one male, who were burnt beyond recognition.
The advocacy centre, while calling for investigation into the incident, warned residents and youths against involvement in pipeline vandalism, crude oil theft, artisanal refineries and trading in illegally refined petroleum products including home storage, to avoid ugly incidents of this nature.
The group also used the opportunity to renew its call on the federal government to legalise artisanal refineries in the Niger Delta through the establishment of its July 27, 2020 proposed Presidential Artisanal Crude Oil Refining Development Initiative (PACORDI) and/or Modular Refineries for artisanal refiners in the Niger Delta region to mitigate recurrence.