A deadly incident in Nigeria’s oil-rich southern region has left at least 37 people dead after they inhaled toxic fumes while siphoning fuel from an illegal pipeline tapping operation in Rivers State, according to the Youths and Environmental Advocacy Centre (YEAC), a local environmental and community advocacy group.
YEAC reports that more than 100 people arrived at Okari Jetty in Okrika under the cover of darkness aboard small vessels to collect the stolen refined fuel, and dozens remain unaccounted for following the disaster. Local eyewitness accounts confirm that many victims collapsed after exposure to the toxic fumes, with some falling into the adjacent Bonny River and others rushed to nearby medical facilities for emergency care. Nigeria’s police force confirmed to the BBC that a formal investigation is currently underway to confirm the exact number of casualties and establish a full timeline of the incident.
Illegal oil theft and pipeline tapping have plagued the Niger Delta, Nigeria’s core oil production hub, for decades. Rivers State is one of several key producing states that make up the vast coastal Niger Delta region, a landscape of mangrove swamps and wetlands that holds the bulk of Nigeria’s massive oil and natural gas reserves. For generations, criminal networks have illegally tapped into operational pipelines to siphon crude oil and refined petroleum products, which are then either sold directly on the black market or processed at unregulated illegal refineries across the region.
YEAC confirmed that the fatal incident involved exposure to what local communities call “Indorama fuel”, a grade of refined Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), the standard gasoline used for road vehicles across Nigeria. Nigeria’s Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) has issued a public statement urging both media outlets and local residents to only rely on officially verified information as security agencies work to piece together the details of the early Thursday morning incident. The NSCDC also reiterated its longstanding condemnation of illegal pipeline tapping and oil siphoning, warning that these criminal activities pose severe, ongoing threats to human life, local ecosystems, and Nigeria’s already fragile national economy. Environmental campaigners have long echoed this warning, noting that rampant oil theft and illegal refining are responsible for widespread, long-lasting ecological damage across the Niger Delta, destroying fishing grounds and contaminating drinking water supplies for local communities.
In recent years, Nigeria’s federal government has ramped up security operations targeting illegal oil theft networks across the region. Speaking on Thursday to Nigerian broadcaster Channels TV, Captain Abiodun Folorunsho, director of naval information, issued a stark warning to oil thieves: that there is no safe hiding place for criminal actors across the Niger Delta’s waterways and coastal areas, which are continuously patrolled by the Nigerian Navy. “Their days are numbered, and if we catch you, of course, we’ll ensure that you face the law,” Folorunsho said.
Alongside expanded Nigerian Navy maritime patrols, the Nigerian military and other security agencies have carried out repeated raids on illegal oil theft operations and refineries, where criminal groups often exploit the region’s dense, remote mangrove forests to avoid detection.
The crackdown on oil theft comes as Nigeria works to reverse years of declining production caused by rampant theft, widespread insecurity, and chronic underinvestment in the country’s oil sector. The government has set an ambitious target to boost national oil production to roughly three million barrels per day by 2030, a goal that relies heavily on improved security in the Niger Delta and broad regulatory reforms to attract much-needed foreign direct investment to the sector.