Nigeria has held a mass burial for over 50 people who were part of 109 people who perished in an explosion last Friday.
The explosion occurred at an illegal refinery in a forest in the Abaezi community of the Ohaji-Egbema Local Government Area in Imo State.
The dead were buried in three graves dug at the site of the explosion.
Local reporters who covered the burial event reported that Marcel Amadioha, who is the Interim Management Committee chairman of Ohaji-Egbema LGA, explained that they conducted the mass burial because many victims were unable to be identified by their family members.
“We have the instruction of the governor of Imo state, Senator Hope Uzodimma, to conduct a mass burial for the victims of the explosion. This is the least we can do for them because they were burnt beyond recognition. You can see there are no relatives of the victims who are here. This is because the victims were unidentifiable. This is the least we could do to avoid their bodies from decaying further,” he said.
“I believe this will serve as a deterrent to others. We are clamping down on all illegal refineries in this area. We can’t allow this economic sabotage to continue. We deserve better than this. The governor has shown enough compassion by providing us with enough logistics to carry out this mass burial.”
Ben Marcos, the area youth leader, revealed that the community is currently carrying out a sensitisation programme to educate the youth about the dangers of oil bunkering.
According to reports, traditional authorities performed libation to appease the gods to avert similar incidents in the future.
Environmental health officials of Ohaji-Egbema LGA carried out a fumigation exercise to forestall disease outbreaks in the area.
Source: https://energynewsafrica.com