The Imo State Governor, Hope Uzondinma, on Tuesday, was absent at the burial site of the 110 victims of the explosion at the illegal oil refinery site at a forest in the Abaezi community in the Ohaji-Egbema Local Government Area of the state, last Friday night.
The victims were given mass burial near the explosion site by the Ohaji-Egbema Local Government Area with the permission of the Governor.
The Network gathered that the mass burial took place at 5pm when the charred remains were lowered into three graves.
It was learned that victims were buried at the site of the explosion without their family members present
The Interim Management Committee Chairman of the LGA, Marcel Amadioha, told Journalists that he had the instruction of the state governor, Hope Uzodiinma, to conduct the mass burial for the victims.
Amadioha, who was assisted by the staff members of Nigerian Red Cross Society and National Emergency Management Agency, said that his people were overwhelmed by the ugly incident adding that few community members were at present.
According to the LG boss, members of staff of the Environmental Health at council headquarters fumigated the scene of the incident, which was meant to forestall any outbreak of disease in the area.
“We have the instruction of the governor of Imo state, Senator Hope Uzodiinma to conduct a mass burial for the victims of the explosion.
“This is the least we can do for them because they were burnt beyond recognition. You can see there are no relatives of the victims who are here. This is because the victims were unidentifiable. This is the least we could do to avoid their bodies from decaying further.
“I believe this will serve as a deterrent to others. We are clamping down on all illegal refineries in this area. We can’t allow this economic sabotage to continue.
“We deserve better than this. The Governor has shown enough compassion by providing us with enough logistics to carry out this mass burial.” He stated.
A youth leader, Ben Marcos, told Journalists that the community was to carry out a sensitization program against oil theft in the community.
According to him, the youths of the community assisted Government officials in burying the victims, to forstall any outbreak of epidemics in the community.
He stated that a cleansing process was carried out before the mass burial.
It was gathered that the representatives of the Catholic archdiocese of Owerri Participated during the funeral activities.
The explosion at the illegal refinery site Abaezi community in the Ohaji-Egbema Local Government Area of the state killed 110 people on Friday night.