THREE vessels used for illegal bunkering activities were yesterday consumed in an explosion that occurred around the Soku area of Degema Local Government area of Rivers State.
Saturday Tribune gathered that the incident started as early as 5:00am in the morning, leading to very loud explosions, which overwhelmed the whole of the area. The third vessel was reportedly still on fire as this report was being filed.
It was not clear how the fire started or the number of casualties it claimed, but sources confirmed that the incident was all around illegal bunkering activities.
Efforts to get official confirmation from security quarters were unsuccessful as all those approached claimed not to have laid their hands on confirmation of it.
State Security Service (SSS) sources admitted to have heard of it, but said there was yet to be an official confirmation on it. They agreed that the reported explosion could only have come from bunkering activities and not munitions.
When contacted, the spokesman of the Joint Task Force (JTF), Operation Flush Out 3, Lt.-Colonel Sagir Musa, said he heard about it, checked out the facts, and found out that it was not true.
It will be recalled that the Soku area has been marked out by the JTF as a notorious illegal oil bunkering zone, from where the dangerous adulterated petroleum product, also known as condensate, is sourced from.