Panic As Fire Rages On At Oil Spill Site in Bayelsa, Nigeria

Residents of Ossiama, Ogboinbiri, Okpotuwari and neighbouring communities in the Southern Ijaw Local Government Area of Bayelsa State are currently living in fear as fire continues to rage at a fresh oil spill site in the area.

 

The fire was said to have been discovered by the locals two days ago. The oil spill that led to the fire incident was said to have occurred on a pipeline operated by the Nigerian Agip Oil Company (NAOC) in the area. Community sources said the actual cause of the spill could, however, not be ascertained.

 

The fresh spill site is close to another spill site that was clamped on April 23, 2015, and which is yet to be cleaned up.

 

A community source who craved anonymity said a joint investigation visit (JIV) conducted on the devastated site of the April 23 incident indicated that the fire was caused by equipment failure. According to the source, since the JIV exercise was conducted, neither Agip officials nor the personnel of the regulatory agencies, which include the Ministry of the Environment, Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) and the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA), have re-visited the impacted site. He fumed that remediation has also not been carried out on the affected environment of the impacted communities, adding that the crude oil slick could spread fast into the surrounding swamps, farms, farmlands, creeks and rivulets during the current rainy season.

Courtesy of allafrica.com

http://goo.gl/D3mHNc

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