Fire guts Cawthorne Channel in Bonny, search for crew members ongoing

Fear has gripped the residents of Bonny local government area of Rivers state following a deadly fire explosion that occured at the Cawthorn channel facility causing huge oil spill into the water. Report said a sesrch was already ongoing for Crew Members as the Community awaits the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, NNPCL’s Compensation for Environmental Devastation and Relief Materials to cushion the devastating effect of the accident. A community leader in the Cawthorne Channel area, Daniel Pollyn was quoted as saying that his people were still conducting search and rescue for the crew members working on the flow stations that were engulfed in the fire outbreak on Wednesday, February 19, 2025. 
Pollyn, who confirmed that the facilities belonged to the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), said the number of casualties were yet to be ascertained. “Two flow stations allegedly belonging to NNPCL around the Cawthorne Channel area, which is on the Western flank of Bonny LGA adjacent to Degema LGA also in Rivers State went up in flames Wednesday. “We have not been able to ascertain the number of casualties for now. But know that all the crew workers in the affected vessels are being searched for up till this moment as I speak.” He said that nobody from his community were among the casualties, blaming the NNPCL for the incident, asserting that the community awaits a joint investigation visit (JIV) to ascertain what actually went wrong, relief materials, compensation for the devastation of the environment as well as clean-up and remediation. 
“None of our community persons are affected. The fault is NNPCL. We are only waiting for JIV and relief material and thereafter compensations based on the pollution that was caused; clean-up and remediation.”  Pollyn also said that his community representatives and those of the NNPCL were engaging already on the matter via Zoom Conferencing, assuring that before Monday a lot of outlying issues would be sorted out. “Yeah, they are having zoom meeting with us until after the JIV; on or before Monday, then every other process will follow suit.”  The incident has raised concerns over adherence to safety protocols and global best practices in managing oil and gas facilities lately in the Niger Delta area of Nigeria.  So far, the NNPCL has remained mute on the issue 24 hours after the incident, a posture, which appears to entrench the perception that the company would rather not be accountable as it has also remained mute almost five months after its pipeline at Iloma Community ruptured and spilled crude oil into the environment.Press Release III 20-02-2025
Also comfirming the incident, the Youths and Environmental Advocacy Centre (YEAC-Nigeria) said it was aware of the explosion and crude oil spillage into the water bodies in the Bonny local government area axis of Rivers State on Wednesday. A stayement by the Executive Director of YEAC-Nigeria, Dr Fyneface Dumnamene said he didn’t report the incident as soon as it occurred and the information received at the centre on February 19 “because the information was still very sketchy as the name of the company that has the barge or vessel that allegedly exploded was not known and yet unknown as many oil companies operate there among others”.  Dr. Fyneface called on the authorities especially the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) to detect the barrels of crude oil that has been spilled into the ecosystem as a result of the explosion and hold the company responsible to account.