Residents in the Okrika local government area of Rivers state are in pains as they are currently feasting on dead fish floating on water following an oil spillage from the explosion of a fuel dump in Okari Jetty.
This incident, which left two fishermen dead, affected aquatic life in the area with dead fishes seen floating on water bodies.
The explosion happened on Monday after a hose used in off-loading Premium Motor Spirit at a Port Harcourt refining company depot was poorly handled by workers resulting in a spill on July 31.
It was also gathered that the incident happened close to NAFCON (a moribund fertilizer company) bridge.
Fyneface Dumnamene, the executive director of Youths and Environmental Advocate Centre, lamented the incident and urged relevant agencies to take actions that would prevent a reoccurrence.
“We are more concerned about the people that died and the environmental impact of the incident,” Dumnamene said.
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“If there was a spillage of PMS into the environment, it has damaged the aquatic system, it has affected fishes in the river, it has affected the sources of livelihood and the farmers within the area.
“It is important for the authorities, the NNPCL, the refining company to come forward and speak about what has happened so that they can carry out environmental clean-up and be able to determine what has caused the incident and then forestall future occurrences.”
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