Health scare in KomKom as decomposing remains of explosion victims are yet to be evacuated

Environment activists, Environmental Rights Action (ERA) and Young Friends of the Earth (YFOEN) on Thursday, accused the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) of not evacuating the remains of victims of KomKom pipeline explosion in swamps.

The activists at a briefing on the explosion urged NEMA to urgently evacuate the remaining bodies lying deep inside the swamp.

ERA and YFOEN said residents of the community informed them that the decomposing bodies are posing a great danger to their health as it had polluted the air which they breathe and that their water bodies have been contaminated by petroleum products as a result of the spill and fire.

The activists said they visited affected families in the community who lamented that nothing had been done since the explosion occurred, adding that they are yet to hear from the government and NNPC/PPMC three weeks after the explosion occured.

YFOEN and ERA represented by Amadi Mgbenihu, Ugorji Jennifer, Wisdom Echonwere and Emmanuel Abite, at the briefing, said a day before the explosion, the residents raised the alarm about a ruptured pipeline that was spilling petroleum products and so many residents of the community were scooping petroleum products, but concerned authorities did not heed the alarm.