At least eight people were killed on Sunday when an oil pipeline exploded in southeast Nigeria, according to local media reports.
The oil industry in Nigeria, Africa’s biggest crude oil producer, has been plagued by theft and the vandalism of pipelines. The means used to steal the oil tends to result in accidents which cause fires.
Oil tanker and pipeline explosions are also relatively common in Nigeria.
In January, police said at least 12 people were killed in Odukpani, Cross River state, after an oil tanker which overturned exploded while people were gathering fuel which was spilling.
In October 2018, at least sixty people were killed after a fire broke out on an oil pipeline in Ososioma near Aba in the southeast of Nigeria, according to an official from the National Emergency Management Agency.
In 2012, more than 100 people were killed near the city of Port Harcourt when an overturned oil tanker exploded as they attempted to collect fuel from it.
The worst incident, however, occurred in 1998 when more than 1,000 people died after a leaking oil pipeline from which they were collecting fuel exploded in Jesse town in Delta state.
