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Strategies & Market Trends : Africa and its Issues- Why Have We Ignored Africa? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: epicure who wrote (124)	6/22/2003 10:54:34 AM
From: epicure	Respond to of 1267

Pipeline, Tapped by Thieves, Explodes in Nigeria, Killing 100 By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS NICHA AMIYI-UHU, Nigeria, June 21 (Reuters) — A Nigerian oil pipeline tapped by thieves exploded two days ago, killing more than 100 villagers scavenging for fuel, witnesses said today. They said the explosion happened on Thursday in this southeastern community, about 35 miles north of Umuahia, the capital of Abia State. Advertisement "Over 100 people died as a result of the incident," Tyson Arugi, the environmental councilor for the municipal area, told Chima Nwafo, deputy governor of Abia, who was visiting the scene. "Some who escaped with injuries died in their villages," Mr. Arugi said. Nigeria is the world's eighth largest exporter of crude oil. But it suffers chronic fuel shortages because of extensive corruption and technical problems with its four domestic refineries. Mr. Arugi said the explosion was set off by a spark from a motorcycle that was being used to transport fuel from the ruptured pipeline, which is owned by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation. The petroleum company's fire crews were rushed in from the oil city of Port Harcourt and managed to extinguish the fire today. Hospital officials in Umuahia said they had been struggling to cope with the flood of burn victims. Three people had died at the city's Federal Medical Center, and a fourth had died on the way there. "Since Thursday night we have been receiving victims of severe burns in our hospital," the hospital's director, Dr. Chinonso Onuoha, told reporters. "All our beds in the casualty section are occupied by people in critical condition, some with 100 percent burns," he said. Witnesses said villagers using buckets and fuel cans had been scooping kerosene from the pipeline ever since it was deliberately punctured about two months before the accident. Oil pipeline fires accidentally started by fuel thieves are common in Nigeria and have killed hundreds of villagers in the past four years. A thriving black market in fuel is a major incentive for thieves to tap into the 3,125-mile network of pipelines that transports refined products across the vast country.