Lingering Panic in Bayelsa Community After Explosion At Oil Facility

Vanguard

11 October 2011

Lingering Panic in Bayelsa Community After Explosion At Oil Facility

Yenagoa — The serene coastal Tereke community in the Nembe Local Government Area was still reveling in the 15th anniversary of the creation of Bayelsa State, the only homogenous Ijaw speaking state in the Nigerian federation, when a loud explosion sent a wave of panic among the natives.

The loud bang which shattered the stillness of the night, accompanied by orange flame lighting up the skyline, threw the festive community into commotion, but thankfully no life was lost.

Vanguard Metro, VM, learnt that the community was locked in massive rush as the terrified natives fled their homes in droves, creating the impression of a settlement under siege.

While some thought that the community was under mortar attack from unknown enemies, others thought an earthquake may have hit their ancestral homeland and that the orange flame that lit up the skyline might have been triggered by the blast that shook the community.

But unknown to the fleeing natives, the explosion and the attendant fire outbreak that rocked the area that Sunday night occurred at the trunk line of the Obama flow station of the Nigerian Agip Oil Company in the mangrove swamp just behind their community.