Though locals at the jetty said the number of casualties could be as high as 43, 37 deaths were confirmed as at the time of filing this report.
The police said an investigation has commenced into the incident.
A community source told Daily Trust that many others who were involved in the act were still missing after the incident that devastated the entire local government area.
It was gathered that a vessel had anchored at a jetty along the riverside to load a petroleum product for export when over 200 persons, mostly youths from neighbouring communities, stormed the jetty with locally-made boats to draw crude from an illegally tapped point.
According to a community source, as the loading went on, the pungent odour of the product saturated the air and choked the victims.
He said many of them collapsed into the river while others, who managed to escape the scene, had serious respiratory challenges and were being treated at an undisclosed hospital in Port Harcourt.
Confirming the incident, Executive Director, Youths and Environmental Advocacy Centre (YEAC-Nigeria), Dr. Fyneface Dumnamene Fyneface, said its network of youth volunteers and human rights defenders in the Okrika Local Government Area reported that no fewer than 37 had been confirmed dead after inhaling crude oil.
Dr. Fyneface in a statement in Port Harcourt, said the victims had connected a pipe to a tapping point on a pipeline that normally transported product from Indorama Eleme Petrochemical through the Port Harcourt Refinery to vessels that usually came every two weeks to load for export.
He said: “According to the report, no fewer than 37 persons suspected to be oil thieves died after inhaling what is locally called ‘Indorama Fuel’ [crude oil belonging to Indorama Eleme Petrochemical]. Many others are still missing. The incident occurred during the illegal loading of the product into a ship at a tapping point.
“The incident is said to have occurred at about 12:00 am on Thursday, September 3, 2026, at the Okari Jetty, Okrika Mainland area.
“The report further stated that while a vessel was loading the product and the men were simultaneously loading into their waiting boats from the illegal tapping point, they inhaled the product being pumped at high pressure. This led to the death of not fewer than 37 persons. Many are still missing, and some corpses have been seen floating on the river but have not yet been recovered”.
He called on the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) to carry out a Joint Investigation Visit (JIV) to the site of this incident.
He requested the companies that owned the vandalised facilities to provide adequate security on their pipelines to prevent a recurrence of the ugly incident.
He said: “The advocacy centre condemns this act of sabotage by the youths and warns them to stay away from oil and gas infrastructure due to the high pressure and associated dangers. While calling for an investigation into the incident, the advocacy centre also calls on the government to provide alternative livelihood opportunities, including the canvassed modular refineries and the legalization of artisanal refining.
“This can be achieved through the establishment of YEAC-Nigeria’s proposed Presidential Artisanal Crude Oil Refining Development Initiative (PACORDI) as well as the proposed Niger Delta Industrial Park to provide alternative opportunities for displaced artisanal refiners in the Niger Delta.”
The police spokesperson in Rivers State, ASP Agabe Blessing Karbalo, who confirmed the incident, said the victims allegedly attempted to steal crude oil.
She said that while no official complaint has been lodged with the command, it has commenced an investigation.
She said: “The suspects reportedly died in the process of attempting to steal crude oil. However, no official complaint has been received in connection with the incident at this time.
“Investigation is ongoing to establish the circumstances surrounding the incident and ascertain the facts,” Agabe stated.
‘How the incident happened’
A resident of Okrika and a fisherman from the area told Daily Trust on condition of anonymity that he was at the beach around the jetty at night preparing for fishing when youths numbering about 200 stormed the jetty.
He said as the company loaded the crude into its barge, the youths also collected the product into containers in their wooden canoe without observing necessary protective protocols.
He said barely 20 minutes into the act, some of the youths began to lose consciousness and fell into the river.
According to him, it took the intervention of some persons who came from the ‘upland’ to rescue most of the suspected thieves. While some were recovered dead, others were taken to a hospital.
The witness described the incident as “a big tragedy” for the people of Okrika, urging companies operating crude business to always ensure that there is adequate security around their operation areas.
He said, “Many families have lost their loved ones. It started like a joke, but in the end, you have seen the number of people that died. That is why it’s always good to have adequate security logistics around such an area of operation, because of the dangers involved.”
A student activist in the area, Tams George, while condoling with the bereaved families, blamed the incident on harsh realities of unemployment, poverty and the daily struggle to survive among Nigerian youths.
George, who posted on his Facebook page shortly after the incident, urged youths to always strive to acquire skills, learn trades, embrace entrepreneurship, pursue innovation, support small businesses, and create opportunities for themselves.
He wrote: “My heart is heavy as I join well-meaning Okrikans, families, friends and the entire Okrika Nation in mourning the precious lives lost in the unfortunate fuel incident (Oil Chock) at the Okrika Jetty. My deepest condolences go especially to the parents and families who have been thrown into unimaginable grief, and to everyone who knew and loved the departed. May God comfort every bereaved family, strengthen them through this painful season and grant eternal rest to the souls we have lost.
“This is not merely a loss to individual families; it is a loss to Okrika, Rivers State and all who call this land home. Every life lost represents a dream, a future, a family and a story that should have continued. As painful as this moment is, may the entire Okrika Nation find the strength and courage to bear this great sorrow.
“As we mourn, let us also reflect. We understand the harsh realities of unemployment, poverty, and the daily struggle to survive. Many of our youths are desperately searching for opportunities to make a living, but unemployment should never make us feel that our lives are expendable.
“In the pursuit of daily bread, we must be conscious of the risks associated with whatever we do, because our lives are valuable not only to us, but also to the parents, siblings, spouses, children, friends and communities who love and depend on us.
“Before engaging in any means of livelihood, let us ask ourselves: is this worth the risk to my life? No amount of money is worth losing a precious life. While we continue to call on and hope for the government to create meaningful employment and opportunities, as well as sustainable means of livelihood, we must also look inward and explore legitimate alternatives.
“Let us acquire skills, learn trades, embrace entrepreneurship, pursue innovation, support small businesses, and create opportunities for ourselves and one another. There are many ways to make a living, and with determination, creativity and the right support, our youths can build better futures without putting their lives in unnecessary danger.”
Expert calls for tougher surveillance, prosecution of vandals
Oil and gas policy expert, Charles Uzoma Ozoemena, called for stronger surveillance, improved intelligence gathering and tougher prosecution of oil theft kingpins following the deaths of 37 youths during an illegal crude oil loading operation in Rivers State.
Ozoemena condemned the incident, describing the deaths as a tragic waste of lives and warning that the persistent illegal oil economy in the Niger Delta would continue to claim lives unless the government adopted a more comprehensive strategy to tackle the problem.
“Let me begin by unequivocally condemning the incident that happened in Rivers State, where 37 youths, oil thieves, died as a result of inhaling what is locally called ‘Indorama fuel,’” he said.
He said the tragedy demonstrated the dangers associated with the illegal oil trade, which has continued to thrive despite substantial government spending on security and surveillance across the oil-producing region.
“Thirty-seven lives wasted and, of course, those of them that survived are also facing respiratory challenges,” Ozoemena said.
The expert argued that the scale of the illegal oil trade suggested that ordinary youths could not be the only beneficiaries of the criminal enterprise, pointing to the involvement of organised networks with access to vessels and other resources required to move illegally tapped crude.
“Poor people don’t own ships. The oil cartels own all these ships and all these boats that are used in loading illegally tapped crude oil from our system,” he said.
Ozoemena therefore urged the government to shift greater attention towards identifying and prosecuting the financiers and organisers behind oil theft rather than focusing largely on the youths who operate at the lower end of the illegal supply chain.
He called for increased surveillance across the Niger Delta, noting that while Tantita Security Services Nigeria Limited had played a role in combating oil theft, the geographical spread of the oil-producing region required broader security architecture.
“Tantita is doing a good job, but from my observation, is Tantita enough to cover the entire geographical space of the Niger Delta where we have oil fields?” he asked.
He proposed decentralising surveillance operations and allowing additional security networks to participate in monitoring oil-producing communities.
“If we follow this very suggestion, I think the security will be tighter,” he said, adding that criminality could not be eliminated but could be significantly reduced through stronger security and intelligence systems.
Ozoemena also advocated improved intelligence gathering, particularly from communities located close to oil infrastructure.
“We have to provide more intelligence to fish them out and use them as a deterrent to others,” he said.
He questioned the effectiveness of existing prosecutions of oil thieves, asking: “So how many have we jailed? How many oil thieves have we jailed in the last 24 months? What are their punishments? Can we use some people as an example?”
Beyond enforcement, however, Ozoemena said poverty and unemployment remained major drivers of youth involvement in illegal oil activities across the Niger Delta.
He argued that the government must ensure that oil-producing communities derive greater economic opportunities from the resources extracted from their environment.
“Poverty and lack of jobs in the Niger Delta are not helping matters. We must be able to use the oil resources from that area to create massive jobs for the youths of the Niger Delta. And the criminality will reduce,” he stated.
The expert maintained that a combination of surveillance, community intelligence, prosecution of oil theft financiers and employment opportunities would provide a more sustainable response.
He advised that community members should also be incentivised to provide timely intelligence to security agencies.
“Once they know you are going to pay them for providing intelligence and keeping them as specialists or experts in that area, I’m sure that they’ll be able to make it more proactive for the security people to prevent all these occurrences rather than reacting to it,” he said
