Four children of the same parents are now feared dead following a kerosene explosion in Azubuike Akani Street in Ozuoba axis, Obio/Akpor Local Government Area of Rivers State.
An eyewitness, Sylvia Amadi told The Tide, yesterday, that the incident happened, last Friday, after the mother of the four lit the stove, which immediately exploded and triggered fire which engulfed the building.
“I am a neighbour to the deceased family. I was in our house sleeping, last Friday night, and around 10pm, I heard my friend who came to my house calling me, Babe, Babe see somebody’s house burning. I stood up and saw the fire from afar, so, we ran down to the scene and joined others to try and quench the fire, but to no avail,” she claimed.
Similarly, three children from same family are now receiving home treatment from various degrees of burns suffered as a result of another kerosene explosion in Queens’ Town in Opobo/Nkoro Local Government Area of Rivers State.
One of the relatives, Tamuno Iwowuna Uranta, said “One of our neighbours bought the condescend kerosene and emptied it into his house lamp. On lighting the match stick, the lantern exploded and fire engulfed the whole house.
“The three children that were left at home by their father, who is a fisherman, were affected. Although the children did not die, they are in critical condition.”
Uranta told The Tide that there was urgent need to save the lives of the three children as their father, who is a fisherman cannot afford medical bills needed for their treatment at a hospital.
Meanwhile, the Leader of the Niger Delta Peoples’ Volunteer Force, Asari Dokubo has blamed the Niger Delta youth for the adulteration of petroleum products through illegal refining and the continued environmental pollution of the region.
Dokubo, who was also a former president of the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC), in an interview with journalists, last Sunday, attributed the black sooth experienced recently in Port Harcourt and other parts of Rivers State, to activities of those he described as bad boys from Kalabari, Okrika, and Ogoniland.
“Go to our communities, we are talking of pollution. They say is one Chinese company that is doing black sooth, it is a lie, no Chinese company is doing any black sooth. It is our people, our Ogoni, Kalabari and Okrika people that are cooking crude oil. They are not afraid of the crime they are committing against the people.”
He lamented the activities of those involved in illegal refining of crude oil, adding that many of the youth do not understand that they are destroying their future.
“They are the people destroying the environment; they are the people running these wastes into our rivers, killing all marine lives. Go to Kalabari, the whole area is finished, in Bonny area, Adamatoru is finished, Ogoni area finished, Okrika area is finished.
“We are talking of Ogoni clean-up: the crime that Ogoni people who don’t want to work have committed is more than what Shell committed,” Asari argued.