No fewer than 37 persons on Thursday believed to be suspected oil thieves have been killed after inhaling crude oil at Okari Jetty in the Okrika Mainland area of Okrika Local Government Area of Rivers State.

The executive director of YEAC-Nigeria, Fyneface Dumnamene, confirmed in a statement on Thursday the victims died after inhaling “Indorama fuel”.

“According to the report, no fewer than 37 persons suspected to be oil thieves died after inhaling what is locally called ‘Indorama Fuel.’

“Many others are still missing. The incident occurred during the illegal loading of the product into a ship at a tapping point,” he said.

Mr Dumnamene stated that the victims connected a pipe to a tapping point on a pipeline that transported petroleum products from the Indorama Eleme Petrochemical facility through the Port Harcourt Refinery to vessels that regularly came to load products for export.

He added that the youths inhaled the product while a vessel was loading and they were simultaneously loading it into their waiting boats from the illegal tapping point.

“This led to the death of not fewer than 37 persons. Many are still missing, and some corpses have been seen floating on the river but have not yet been recovered,” he said.

The director also urged National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency to immediately conduct a joint investigation visit to the site.

“The Advocacy Centre condemns this act of sabotage by the youths and warns them to stay away from oil and gas infrastructure due to the high pressure and associated dangers.

“While calling for investigation into the incident, the Advocacy Centre also calls on the government to provide alternative livelihood opportunities, including the canvassed modular refineries and the legalisation of artisanal refining,” he added.

The spokesperson for the Rivers State police command, Blessing Agabe, was not immediately available for comment from Peoples Gazette.

Text and WhatsApp messages sent to her remained unanswered as of press time.