President Muhammadu Buhari has ordered investigation into the explosion in a gas pipeline belonging to the Petroleum Products Marketing Company (PPMC) which killed 10 workers on Saturday.
Buhari extended his condolences on Sunday to the people and government of Rivers State where the incident happened.
The president’s Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, said in Abuja that Buhari was extremely pained by the loss of lives as a result of the incident.
Buhari ordered that “a thorough investigation to determine what is responsible for the gas pipeline tragedy in Oyibo Local Government Area of Rivers State in which several fatalities were reported”.
The gas tragedy reportedly occurred at Kom Kom community of Oyibo local government area on Saturday when workers were fixing a faulty section of the pipeline.
The River State Police Command has commenced full scale investigation on the incident.
The Executive Chairman of the council, Gerald Oforji, confirmed the incident and put the number of lives lost at 10 and that the bodies of the victims were recovered from the scene after the fire was put out.
The exploded pipeline conveys gas from Port Harcourt to Aba before vandals tampered with it to steal fuel, leading to the explosion.
MM/GIK/APA