At least 37 people are believed to have died after inhaling toxic fumes from illegally siphoned petrol in Okrika, a community in Nigeria\u2019s Niger Delta, reports said. The Yevo Youth Empowerment and Advocacy Centre (YEAC) stated that its volunteers and human rights defenders reported the deaths, saying locals had breathed in what is known locally as \u201cIndorama fuel\u201d \u2014 a form of refined petrol technically classified as Premium Motor Spirit (PMS).<\/p>\n
Nigeria\u2019s Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) has called on the public and media to depend only on verified information while security agencies investigate the early-morning incident on Thursday. The NSCDC strongly condemned illegal tapping and siphoning, warning that such activities endanger lives, harm the environment, and threaten the economy.<\/p>\n
Activists and campaigners have long linked oil theft and illegal refining to severe environmental damage across the Niger Delta region.<\/p>\n
The fatalities come amid intensified government operations against petroleum theft. On Thursday, Naval Information Director Captain Abiodun Folorunsho told Channels TV that thieves now had \u201cno hiding place\u201d from naval patrols along the waterways and coastal zones. \u201cTheir days are numbered, and if we catch you, we will ensure you face the law,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The military and other security forces have also conducted operations targeting oil thieves who frequently operate from the area\u2019s dense mangrove forests.<\/p>\n
Nigeria is seeking to raise crude output after years of losses caused by theft, insecurity and underinvestment. The government aims to boost production to approximately three million barrels per day by 2030, relying on improved security and regulatory reforms to attract fresh investment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Dozens feared dead after toxic fumes from alleged petrol theft in Okrika, Niger Delta; officials urge reliance on verified information.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[548,1369,1277,463,1371,1194,1370,162],"class_list":["post-574","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-climate","tag-indorama-fuel","tag-niger-delta","tag-nigeria","tag-nscdc","tag-oil-theft","tag-pms","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/yovao.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/574","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/yovao.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/yovao.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yovao.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yovao.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=574"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/yovao.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/574\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/yovao.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=574"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yovao.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=574"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yovao.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=574"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}