An environmental activist who visited the site, revealed that the trunk line carrying crude oil in a community in the Ogoniland area of Rivers State became engulfed in fire on Monday.
Trunkline explosion in Goi community
A trunk line which belongs to the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) carrying crude oil in the Goi community in the Ogoniland area of Rivers State was engulfed in fire and flames on Monday morning.
An environmental activist, Celestine Akpobari, who visited the site, disclosed that the inferno occurred just a few meters away from a military surveillance post. According to her, the fire immediately followed the sound of an eruption affecting the Agbada/Bomu trunk line.
"Goi, another Ogoni community, is on fire this early morning from an eruption on the 28-inch Agbada/Bomu trunkline belonging to Shell, which is just a few meters from the surveillance post.
"The first eruption which led to a serious fire outbreak occurred in the same community last July 10, 2016, leading to a complete destruction of livelihoods belonging to the entire Akpene kindred.
"The [United Nations Environmental Program] recommended immediate decommissioning [of the trunk line] and I think it is high time Shell remove their pipeline from Ogoni," the activist told SaharaReporters.