Over 100 Killed In Nigeria Oil Refinery Blast

Picture courtesy: NDTV

More than 100 people were killed overnight in an explosion at an illegal oil refining depot on the border of Nigeria’s Rivers and Imo states, a local government official and an environmental group said on Saturday.

"Several bodies burnt beyond recognition lay on the ground while others who may have attempted running for safety are seen hanging on some tree branches," said Fyneface Dumnamene, Executive Director of Youths and Environmental Advocacy Centre (YEAC).

"The incident happened on the boundary between Rivers and Imo state," Rivers state police spokeswoman Grace Iringe-Koko told AFP, without giving details.

Local media reports said over 100 people had been killed in the blast, the latest in Nigeria, Africa's biggest producer of crude.

Illegal crude refining is common in the southern-oil region where oil thieves vandalise pipelines to steal crude which they refine to sell at the black market.

Most people in the oil-producing Niger delta live in poverty even though the country is the biggest oil producer on the continent, with around two million barrels per day.