Victims of Imo illegal refinery fire disaster for mass burial today

Victims of an explosion at an illegal refinery located in a forest in Abaezi community in the Ohaji Egbema local government area of Imo State, will be given a mass burial today, Monday April 25.

The state government said it decided on conducting the mass burial for the victims as they were burnt beyond recognition and their identities could not be ascertained and to forestall an epidemic in the area as the corpses have begun decomposing.

Ripples Nigeria had reported about the fire which engulfed the iillegal crude oil refinery complex in the Abaezi forest where at least 150 people were burnt to death while many others suffered several degrees of major burns.

Confirming the mass burial plans of the Imo State government, Head of Operations of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) in the state, Ifeanyi Nnaji, in a statement on Monday, said it would be carried out by the state Ministries of Petroleum Resources and Environment.

“The state Ministries of Petroleum Resources and Environment will carry out a mass burial for the victims because their remains are already decomposing.

Read also: Buhari orders clampdown on illegal refineries in aftermath of Imo, Rivers disasters

“It is a large market involving people from all parts of the country; and since they were burnt beyond recognition, it is very difficult to identify them.

“A family just came and saw one body, which they said resembled one of their own and they carried it for burial according to traditional rites,” Nnaji said.

The NEMA boss added that the charred remains of the over 100 victims had been gathered and were awaiting a mass burial by the state government.

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