At Least 37 Suspected Oil Thieves Die Inhaling Toxic Fumes at Rivers State Jetty
Port Harcourt — At least 37 people have died in Nigeria’s oil-rich Niger Delta after inhaling toxic fumes during an alleged fuel theft operation at a jetty in Okrika Local Government Area of Rivers State, a local advocacy group has confirmed, with many others still reported missing.
The incident occurred in the early hours of Thursday at the Okari Jetty area of Okrika Mainland, according to the Youths and Environmental Advocacy Centre (YEAC-Nigeria), which said it received and confirmed reports from its network of youth volunteers and human rights defenders operating across the Niger Delta. The group’s Executive Director, Dr Fyneface Dumnamene Fyneface, said those killed were suspected to be oil thieves who had connected a pipe to a tapping point on a pipeline that ordinarily transports petroleum products from the Indorama Eleme Petrochemical facility through the Port Harcourt Refinery to vessels arriving roughly every two weeks to load for export.
According to the organisation, the illegal operation was taking place at the same time a vessel was loading products at the location, exposing the men to fumes released as the product was pumped through the pipeline under high pressure. Fyneface explained that the victims were simultaneously loading the stolen product into their own waiting boats when they inhaled the fumes, locally referred to as “Indorama fuel,” resulting in the mass casualties. He added that a number of corpses had already been seen floating on the river but had not yet been recovered, and cautioned that the confirmed death toll could rise as search efforts continue.
Fyneface called on the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) to carry out an immediate Joint Investigation Visit to the site to determine the full circumstances surrounding the deaths. He also urged the company whose facility was allegedly vandalised to strengthen security around its pipelines and other oil infrastructure to prevent similar incidents in the future. While strongly condemning the act of sabotage and warning local youths against tampering with oil and gas infrastructure due to the associated dangers, he also appealed to government authorities to create alternative sources of livelihood for young people in the region, proposing options such as modular refineries, the legalisation of artisanal refining, and the establishment of a dedicated Presidential Artisanal Crude Oil Refining Development Initiative alongside a Niger Delta Industrial Park.
The Rivers State Police Command confirmed that it was investigating the incident, though it did not immediately disclose an official death toll. Illegal oil siphoning remains a persistent and dangerous problem in Nigeria, an OPEC member and one of Africa’s largest petroleum producers, where such activity causes significant environmental pollution alongside the risk to human life. Accidents of this nature are common in the swamps of the Niger Delta, where smugglers regularly tap into pipelines to steal crude oil for illegal refining and resale, despite residents of the oil-producing region continuing to live in poverty amid decades of extraction, neglect, and environmental degradation.
The tragedy has also taken on political dimensions, with the opposition African Democratic Congress attributing the incident to the country’s broader economic hardship, arguing that difficult living conditions continue to push desperate individuals toward such high-risk activity.
About the Author
