An explosion took place at a clandestine oil refinery in southern Nigeria, raising fears of dozens of victims, police and an NGO said on Saturday.
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Clandestine refining is widespread in the oil south of Nigeria, Africa's largest oil producer, where pipelines are regularly sabotaged, with thieves refining the collected crude oil to sell on the black market.
According to the police, the explosion took place on the site of an illegal refinery on Friday evening where operators and bosses were gathered.
"
The incident took place on the border between Rivers and Imo states
," Rivers state spokeswoman Grace Iringe-Koko told AFP, without further details.
But according to Fyneface Dumnamene, director of the NGO Youths and Environmental Advocacy Center (YEAC), an unknown number of people were burned to death in the explosion.
"
Several burnt bodies, unrecognizable, are lying on the ground, while others who tried to run away hang on the branches of trees
," he said.
According to local media, more than 100 people were killed in the explosion.
