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Scores Die in Another Pipeline Fire
3 security operatives missing By Mike Oduniyi, Yemi Akinsuyi and Eugene Agha, 12.23.2004
A blazing fire from a burst petroleum products pipeline in Ilado, in the outskirt of Lagos, wreaked havoc in the area with scores feared dead. Unconfirmed report put the death toll at about 200, with properties worth several millions of naira also consumed in the inferno, which started late Tuesday night and continued till late yesterday. THISDAY gathered that some arsonists had invaded the pipeline, which carries fuel from the Atlas Cove Jetty to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) depots in Ejigbo, Lagos and Mosimi in Ogun State. After bursting the pipeline and scooping of fuel commenced, information reached the NNPC security headquarters and the Marine Police that some criminals had vandalised the corporation's pipeline at Ilado. However, on getting there, they caught the criminals in the act of the vandalisation, and while trying to arrest the vandals, one of them struck a match. The lit match was soon attracted to the large pool of petrol that had gathered from the burst point, and the ensuing inferno consumed all the people around, said one witness. Thick smoke bellowed into the sky all throughout yesterday, while soldiers were drafted to the site. "There were many people at the scene, both the ones scooping fuel, the security men from police and NNPC as well as villagers. They could be up to 200," said another source. Marine Police sources also confirmed to THISDAY last night that many people died in the fire and that three security operatives were missing. Contacted, the Lagos State Police spokesman, Emmanuel Ighodalo, a Superintendent of Police (SP), said investigation was still in progress to unravel the cause of the fire. NNPC officials were not immediately available for comments. The Chairman of Oriade Local Government of Lagos State, Prince Adio Sekoni, who claimed that the vandals had since renewed their activities in the area, accused the police and officials of the NNPC of conniving with the vandals. The chairman, who made the claim in a phone chat with THISDAY last night, said he had written series of letters to the office of the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Mr Isarel Ajao and NNPC informing them of the illegal activities of those suspected to have recently been engaging in the siphoning of petroleum products in the area. "A powerful syndicate comprising the police and NNPC officials are behind the activities. I want to believe that some of those responsible for the patrol of the area have failed in their constitutional responsibility since it behoves on them to do so and not the local government," he added. Sekoni said it was no longer a hidden fact that those involved in the vadalisation of petroleum pipeline had resumed months after fire gutted the entire Imore community. Yesterday's fire was the second major oil pipeline fire just under three months, at the same Ilado area in the last three months. The last pipeline fire that rocked the area now reputed as haven for illegal bunkering, claimed the lives of 50 people. The pipeline was one stretch of the many oil pipes that criss-crossed the entire community. The pattern of vandalising the line indicated that the criminals engaged in the act in dead of the night. The issue of pipeline vandalisation has become a major concern for the authorities. Early this year, six people were killed while vandalising a Shell crude oil pipeline in Rivers State. Last year, 20 people died in another pipeline fire in the Akute area of Ogun State, while 60 people died in a pipeline fire in Takwa-Bay, Lagos in November 2000. But the biggest of the rising cases of pipeline fire was in July 1998, where about 1,000 villagers from Jesse community, in Delta State, perished in an inferno that engulfed them while scooping petrol from a burst pipeline. To tackle the scourge, the Federal Government created the NNPC/Police Joint Monitoring Team early this year, to provide security for the more than 3,000-km network of pipelines that criss-cross the nation. About 500 police officers were deployed by the Inspector General of Police for the exercise.
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