Today in History.- Fire explosion kills 700

A pipeline explosion in Jesse, Nigeria, kills 700 people on this day in 1998. The pipeline owned by the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation runs through Jesse an impoverished community in the Niger Delta.
The oil field is controlled by several multi-national corporations in cooperation with the Nigerian government and when the explosion occurred, not much was done.

As you may already know, Nigeria is an oil-rich country on the west coast of Africa and very little of the proceeds from oil exports reaches the average citizen of the country and millions of people live in abject poverty.

One of such ways the people in these communities that are being neglected by the government and oil companies compensate themselves is by stealing oil from the pipeline. An act known as “bunkering.”

The explosion took place on October 18, after a helicopter was dispatched to disperse the people assembled at the pipeline. The exact cause of the explosion remains unknown, and the resulting fire burned for nearly a week.

The pipeline explosion incinerated hundreds of people instantly. Others died from agonizing burn injuries.

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