About 10 bodies have been recovered from the scene of an incident in which persons WFreportedly inhaled fumes from a toxic petroleum product and died in Okrika Local Government Area of Rivers State.
The Commander of the Civilian Joint Task Force in Okrika Local Government, Igwe Godswill, confirmed the recovery while commenting on the incident on Friday.
The tragedy, which occurred on Thursday, reportedly left no fewer than 37 persons dead, although conflicting casualty figures have emerged.
Saturday PUNCH gathered that the incident occurred while youths were illegally loading the product into a ship from a tapping point at a jetty in the area.
A vessel was said to have anchored at a jetty along the riverside to load a petroleum product for export, but in the course of loading the product, a strong smell saturated the air and choked the victims, most of whom were youths.
