•NEMA puts number of deaths at 110, says quantum of survivors unknown
•50 victims given mass burial
Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja and Amby Uneze in Owerri
The Imo state government yesterday admitted that it was aware that an illegal refinery existed in Abaezi forest in the Ohaji-Egbema Local Government Area of the state.
The government added that the commissioner of petroleum was in the know of the activities of the suspected oil thieves, since he (commissioner) is from the village where the inferno happened.
This is just as about 50 victims of last Friday illegal refinery explosion were given mass burial at Abaezi forest in Abacheke Kpofire Community in Ohaji Egbema Local Government Area of Imo state.
Many victims were said to have been burnt beyond recognition during the incident which occurred after an illegal refinery exploded in the area. Dozens of people were thought to have been working at the illegal refining plants when they were caught in the huge fire.
While offering his condolences to the families of the victims on Sunday, President Muhammadu Buhari had demanded that those responsible for the explosions must be caught and brought to justice.
The State’s Commissioner for Information, Declan Emelumba, who appeared on a national television station over the matter, stressed that the victims were burnt beyond recognition, noting that it was difficult to identify who they were. “So, the only option left is a mass burial,” he said.
According to him, although the state government tried to stop the illegal operations, the suspected criminals were sometimes smarter than the security agencies.
“What I know is that this explosion took place in the forest. The government has been making efforts to contain this illegality now. Just about three weeks ago, the government set up a committee headed by the petroleum commissioner to collaborate with security officials to stamp out this illegal bunkering.
“So we have been concentrating on doing what everyone should do to make sure that we stamp out this illegal bunkering, of course using the security agencies,” he noted.
The commissioner explained that illegal bunkering has always existed in the state, affirming that “everybody is aware of that.”
“And efforts have also been made to chase them out, to stop them. It’s like a black market. And as much as you make efforts, they will still find a way to continue.
“Unfortunately, it is the people that patronise them, so they find a way. So, what the state government did was to have a holistic approach to make sure that it’s no longer a whimsical thing.
“What I know is that it was an illegal business located in the forest and everybody there was there to profit from illegality,” he noted.
According to him, the operators of the illegal refinery had already collected the money for supplies, left their boys to handle the loading before the incident happened.
“At least two of the people who own the refineries were affected,” he noted, saying that they are known in the community. “It won’t take long before they are caught,” he declared.
He added: “Of course you will be correct (to say they are known to the state government) in the sense that at least the honourable commissioner for petroleum is from that area. In fact, the thing is within his village. So these people are from that area too. So, he knows them and he is aware and if he knows them, then the government knows them also.
“You know, I tried to explain to you that this is an illegal business. It is something that they do like hit and run. Its done in the dark. Sometimes the security operatives will move in and they will run away and that was why the government said there has to be a coordinated collaboration,” Emelumba stressed.
In his comments, Head of Operations, National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), put the death toll at 110, revealing that 19 more persons died on Sunday. “ The survivors are just few and those that had severe burns later died,” he said.
He added that since the survivors were taken to different hospitals, the agency could not accurately tell the number of those who survived the incident.
“It was a gory sight. Getting there, it was pathetic, because looking at human beings in that number, trying to imagine the number of people perishing in one day, men and women was something horrible.”
Nnaji further explained that it was an isolated area in the middle of the forest, saying everyone at that point was there for the illegal business before the explosion.
Imo Explosion: 50 Victims Given Mass Burial
The mass burial was supervised by the Chairman of the local government, Marcel Amadioha, security agents and officials of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA).
The victims were buried in three graves dug by locals at about 5 pm on Tuesday.
Both journalists, security agents waited for more than six hours awaiting the arrival of health officials who were expected to fumigate the area after the bodies were collected from various spots where the fire caught them as they tried to flee from the raging inferno.
Chairman of the local government, who spoke to newsmen at the site said that 50 of the victims who could not be identified were given mass burial.
One of the youth leaders, Ben Marcus, who spoke to our correspondent, said that some of the victims were identified by their relatives and were allowed to carry them for burial.
He said that most of the victims came from far and near, adding that the incident would serve as a lesson to those people engaging in such illegal business.
He urged the government to provide employment for the teeming youths of the community to dissuade them from getting involved in such illegal and risky business.
