2 suspects identified of Nigeria oil refinery blast

At least 100 people may have killed in an explosion at an illegal oil refinery in southeast Nigeria, a local oil official said Sunday as the hunt increased for bodies at the site and for two people suspected of being involved in the blast.

The explosion was described as a “catastrophe and a national disaster” by Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari in a statement.

According to state officials, a fire at two fuel storage sites where more than 100 people worked prompted the explosion at the facility in Ohaji-Egbema local government area in Imo state on Friday night.

Hundreds of workers were injured in the blast, and many more sought to flee the fire by rushing into the woods.

Those who died in the disaster are estimated to be within “the range of 100,” said Goodluck Opiah, the Imo commissioner for petroleum resources. “A lot of them ran into the bush with the burns and they died there.”