Nigeria oil pipeline deaths disputed after NGO says 37

Nigerian authorities and Indorama have challenged a local NGO's claim that 37 people died after inhaling fumes during suspected fuel theft from a pipeline in Rivers State in Nigeria's Niger Delta.

The Youths and Environmental Advocacy Centre, known as YEAC-Nigeria, said the deaths happened early Thursday in the Okrika Local Government Area. It said those killed had inhaled fuel during theft from a pipeline, and earlier said many others were missing.

The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, the force that guards pipelines, said its Rivers State command had found only four bodies and was still investigating. It said the initial casualty figures circulating after the incident were not fully verified and may have been overstated.

Indorama, the company whose pipeline YEAC-Nigeria said was targeted, rejected the NGO's account. Fidelis Omunakwe Akandu, the firm's coordinator of pipeline surveillance, said the claims were “blatant lies” and that “no such incident occurred within the facility or along the pipeline corridor.”

YEAC-Nigeria disputed the denial. Its executive director, Fyneface Dumnamene, told AFP the organisation had pictures and videos to support its claim and accused Indorama of lying that there had been no incident or casualties.

Rivers State police had previously confirmed an incident and said the victims were allegedly trying to steal oil, but did not give a death toll.

The area around the pipeline was closed to the public on Friday, with a large security deployment blocking media access, an AFP journalist said. Residents said the victims whose bodies were found had not been stealing fuel. One local resident, speaking anonymously to AFP, said they “inhaled something after an explosion.”

Arabibia Minanyo, a vendor in her early 40s, said her husband was killed in the incident. “Foam was coming out of his mouth and nose. They told us he inhaled gas,” she said.

Oil theft is common in the Niger Delta, a region that hosts a multi-billion-dollar oil industry but also has deep poverty. Accidents are common in Niger Delta swamps, where smugglers tap pipelines to steal crude and refine it into fuel for sale.