LAGOS—A yet to be ascertained number of pipeline vandals were roasted in the wee hours of yesterday, following a Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, pipeline explosion at Arepo, Ogun State.
Although an unconfirmed report put the death toll at 100, National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA, could not state whether any casualty was recorded, as it claimed it could not access the terrain due to the magnitude of the fire.
There were different accounts of how the explosion occurred.
A version said some of the vandals intentionally fired some shots on the broken pipeline during a heated argument, thereby resulting in an explosion that sparked off a wild fire.
Trouble, as gathered, started after different group of vandals stormed the creeks in boats loaded with empty jerry cans and engaged in a verbal confrontation over ownership of a section of the pipeline.
One of the group leaders, whose identity was given simply as Killer, was said to have ordered the other groups to vacate the creeks, stating that he was the owner of the section they invaded.
Apparently taking the order as an affront, leaders of other groups reportedly told their boys to break another section of the pipeline, from where they began to siphon the product.
In the process, a member of Killer‘s group allegedly fired a shot at the broken pipeline, resulting in an inferno.
Another version had it that the vandals had finished siphoning the petroleum product and were leaving the creeks when one of the boats developed a fault.
In the process of trying to start its engine, a spark of fire emerged, causing the explosion.
Several of them were reportedly burnt beyond recognition, while some, who managed to swim to safety, sustained severe burns.
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