About 37 persons have reportedly died after inhaling fumes from a petroleum product at a jetty in Okrika Local Government Area of Rivers State.
The incident occurred on Thursday at the Okari Jetty in the Okrika Mainland area, where youths from Okrika and neighbouring communities had reportedly gathered to load a petroleum product from an illegal tapping point.
Many others were said to be missing following the incident, which occurred in the mainly coastal community.
A source in the community told our reporter that more than 100 persons had stormed the jetty with locally made boats while a vessel was anchored at the riverside to load petroleum products.
The source said trouble started while the youths were loading the product, as a strong smell suddenly saturated the air, causing several of them to collapse.
