On October 18, 1998, a pipeline explosion occurred in the community of Jesse (geographical coordinates ), southeast of

Lagos Lagos ( ; ), or Lagos City, is a large metropolitan city in southwestern Nigeria. With an upper population estimated above 21 million dwellers, it is the largest city in Nigeria, the most populous urban area on the African continent, and on ...

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

. The cause of the blast has been debated. The Nigerian government stated the explosion took place after scavengers intentionally ruptured the pipeline with their tools and ignited the blaze; however, others have stated the pipeline ruptured due to a lack of maintenance and neglect with a cigarette igniting the fire. With 1,082 deaths attributed to the blast, the 1998 Jesse explosion has the distinction of being the most deadly pipeline explosion to have occurred in Nigeria. Located in the

Niger Delta The Niger Delta is the delta of the Niger River sitting directly on the Gulf of Guinea on the Atlantic Ocean in Nigeria. It is located within nine coastal southern Nigerian states, which include: all six states from the South South geopolitic ...

, the ruptured pipeline was owned by the

Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited is a state-owned oil company in Nigeria. Still a fully-owned government company, it was transformed from a corporation into a limited liability company in July 2022. NNPC Limited is the on ...

(NNPC), and served as a link between an oil refinery in the southeastern town of

Warri The city of Warri is an oil hub within South-South Nigeria and houses an annex of the Delta State Government House. Warri City is one of the major hubs of the petroleum industry in Nigeria. Warri, Udu, Okpe and Uvwie are the commercial ...

, southeast of Lagos, and Kaduna, north of Warri. After igniting on October 18, the fire burned until a firefighting company from the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

was able to extinguish the blaze on October 23 with a nitrogen-rich foam. During a visit on October 19, Nigerian President

Abdulsalami Abubakar Abdulsalami Abubakar (; born 13 June 1942) is a retired Nigerian army general who served as the military head of state of Nigeria from 1998 to 1999. He was also Chief of Defence Staff from 1997 to 1998. He succeeded General Sani Abacha upon ...

promised to provide the necessary support to give aid in addition to develop solutions to prevent these types of tragedies from occurring again. Weeks after the explosion, the death toll continued to rise as many of those with injuries died while in hospitals, while others fled care as a result of fearing arrest by the Nigerian government on suspicion of igniting the blaze. Due to the intensity of the blaze, many victims were too badly burned to be identified, and as a result over 300 bodies were buried in mass graves.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jesse Pipeline Explosion Explosions in 1998 Jesse pipeline explosion, 1998 Jesse pipeline explosion, 1998 Jesse pipeline explosion, 1998 Pipeline accidents Deaths caused by petroleum looting October 1998 in Nigeria 1998 disasters in Nigeria

See also

References