At least 37 people have died and several others remain unaccounted for after a mass fuel-siphoning attempt turned deadly in the early hours of Thursday, September 3, at Okari Jetty in the Okrika Mainland area of Rivers State.
According to community sources, more than 200 youths from neighbouring communities converged on the jetty in wooden boats under cover of darkness, attempting to tap fuel from an illegally connected point on a pipeline linked to a vessel that was loading petroleum products for export. Witnesses said victims were overcome by concentrated chemical fumes as they loaded the product into their boats, causing many to lose consciousness. Some reportedly fell into the Bonny River and drowned, while others were rushed to hospital with severe respiratory complications.
Of the confirmed dead, 37 have been identified as indigenes of Okrika, while six bodies remain unidentified. An undetermined number of people are still missing. The Rivers State Police Public Relations Officer, ASP Blessing Agabe Kaborio, confirmed the incident but said the command could not yet verify the death toll. “A number of people who went to scoop crude oil died in the process. I cannot volunteer the actual figure now because investigation is still ongoing,” Kaborio said, adding that police were working to establish the full circumstances and casualty count.
Fyneface Fyneface, executive director of the Youths and Environmental Advocacy Centre (YEAC-Nigeria), said the victims had tapped into a pipeline transporting petroleum products from Indorama Eleme Petrochemicals through the Port Harcourt refinery corridor to export vessels, while a ship was simultaneously receiving supplies from the same line. The refined product, locally referred to as “Indorama fuel,” is a form of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS).
YEAC-Nigeria has called on the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) to launch a joint investigation into the incident, while also urging operators of oil and gas infrastructure in the area to strengthen security to deter vandalism and illegal bunkering. Nigeria’s Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) urged the public and media to rely only on verified information as security agencies work to establish what happened, while condemning illegal pipeline tapping as a threat to lives, the environment, and the economy.
The tragedy underscores the persistence of pipeline theft in Nigeria’s oil-rich Niger Delta, where criminal networks have for decades tapped crude oil and refined products for sale on the black market or at illegal refineries. The Nigerian Navy has stepped up maritime patrols in the region. Director of Naval Information Capt. Abiodun Folorunsho warned on Thursday that those engaged in oil theft have “no hiding place,” telling Channels TV that anyone caught would “face the law.”
The incident adds to mounting pressure on federal authorities as Nigeria seeks to raise oil production to roughly three million barrels per day by 2030, an effort officials say depends on curbing insecurity and theft along the country’s pipeline network.
