Three maintenance workers, repairing pipelines were killed during a pipeline explosion at an oil field operated by the Nigeria Agip Oil Company (NAOC) in Olugboro community in Southern Ijaw local government area of Bayelsa state.

File photo: Pipeline explosion

The Director-General of the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA), Peter Idabor, confirmed this to NAN, saying the incident happened on Sunday.

Idabor said a staff of the agency was lucky to escape death, adding that many people sustained injuries.

He said the survivor had drawn the attention of oil workers to the breach of safety procedure and left the scene shortly before the incident occurred.

“I received a report of the incident from our staff in Yenagoa office and luckily one of our officers on the team survived,” he said.

“Because of the safety conditions of the place after inspection my staff left the place and he was not affected.

“I am going to report the matter officially to the minister of environment today.”

In July, a similar blast at Agip’s oil field in Azuzuama in Southern Ijaw left 14 people dead.

A regulatory official of the Bayelsa state ministry of environment and NOSDRA and 12 maintenance crew members were among the victims.