P’Harcourt explosion: Youths recover five bodies
AS the vessel that exploded at the Abuloma Jetty continues to burn, four corpses have been recovered from the ship a day after it was gutted by fire.
One of the corpses was found floating on the water; the deceased reportedly jumped into the river when the vessel exploded.
The vessel had exploded at about 9:20am on Friday when some welders were carrying out a maintenance work on the deck of its fuel tank.
While one of the welders died instantly, about 30 persons said to have been trapped in the vessel, died in the inferno.
In another development, youths from the Abuloma community have begun a search for the owner of the vessel.
The youths, who were angered by the level of pollution of their environment by the tragic incident, insisted that the owner and contractor handling the operations of the vessel must pay them compensation.
A youth leader in Abuloma community, Mr. Ramson Opuiyo, said members of the community were sad that the contractor decided to repair the vessel within the area.
He said, “The community is trying to establish who was the owner of the vessel and the contractor who brought it to the jetty.
“As soon as we get details about the vessel owner and contractor, the community would hand them over to the Rivers State Government and demand compensation.”
The Coordinator of the National Emergency Management Agency, South-South Zone, Mr. Emenike Umesi, recommended that the affected vessel be removed from the waterways to prevent further mishap.
Umesi, in a statement issued in Port Harcourt on Saturday, put the death toll so far at four, with two injured while one fishing boat, one tug boat and two barges were destroyed during the incident.
In a related development, the Rivers State Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists has expressed shock over the fire outbreak at the offices of The Tide Newspapers and Rhythm FM in Port Harcourt.
A statement signed by the Assistant Secretary of the state NUJ, Mr. Anayo Onukwugha, said, “We wish to commiserate with our members and the management of the two media outfits over these unfortunate incidents and call on relevant authorities to ensure the remote and immediate causes of the two fire incidents are unravelled.”
