Youths have been advised to desist from oil bunkering as there is no justification for any act of economic sabotage.

The lawmaker representing Ohaji Egbema Constituency in the Imo State House of Assembly, Chief Heclus Okoro gave the advice while reacting to the explosion that rocked the illegal crude oil refinery located at a forest in Abaezi Community of Ohaji Egbema Local Government Area of Imo State last Friday.

Meanwhile, Abia State Government had launched a manhunt of the owners of such businesses even as death toll continue to rise.

The State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Chief Declan Emelumba, announced the manhunt in Owerri.

He said that those behind the inferno, which claimed over one hundred lives, must be arrested and prosecuted.

Our Correspondent reports that four vehicles and a motorcycle that were possibly waiting to load petroleum products out of the forest were also burnt during the incident. 

Also, it was reported that pipeline vandalism and illegal refining of crude oil at Ohaji-Egbema Local Government Area of Imo State had continued unabated despite efforts by the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC made several efforts to stop it.

According to the State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, government had expressed deep sympathy to families of those who lost their lives to the inferno.

He said a committee earlier set up by the state government to stamp out illegal oil refineries in the state would now collaborate with federal agencies to end the illicit business.                       

The Head of Operations National Emergency Management Agency in Imo State, Mr. Ifeanyi Nnaji, said over one hundred bodies of the victims who were burnt beyond recognition would be given mass burial as the corpses were already decomposing.

An Indigene of the area, Prince Stephen Lemachi, who described the incident as unfortunate, decried army of unemployed youths in the oil bearing communities and called on community leaders to engage with the oil companies operating in the area to ensure the people are gainfully employed.