Dozens of charred bodies of more than 100 people killed during a weekend explosion at an illegal oil refinery were buried in mass graves in Nigeria’s Imo state on Tuesday.
Stench of decomposing flesh splashed over the razed site of illegal oil refinery hung in the air.
A group of men, some bare chested and without shoes, used shovels to dig three graves at the site of the explosion, a swampy open space surrounded by burnt out cars and palm trees.
With only plastic and flip flops covering their feet, men used makeshift stretchers to dump bodies in shallow graves, which quickly filled with water. No body bags were used.
“Because of the explosion here the corpses cannot be identified. His excellency, the governor mandated us to make sure that we should bury those that cannot be identified by their relatives,” said Marcel Amadioha, Chairman of Ohaji-Egbema Local Government Area of Imo State.
Amadioha said some relatives had managed to claim some bodies and took them for burial but more than 50 were unclaimed.
The process has led to fatal accidents and polluted a region already blighted by oil spills in farmland, creeks and lagoons for decades.
Government officials estimate that Nigeria, Africa’s biggest oil producer and exporter, loses an average of 200,000 barrels of oil per day, more than 10% of production, to theft or vandalised of pipelines. (Reuters)
