An oil production ship skilled in carrying up to 2 million barrels of oil exploded off the coast of Nigeria with ten crew members on the board.
As per the reports, the Trinity Spirit exploded on early Wednesday, February 2, at the Ukpokiti oil field off Nigeria’s coast, near the Escravos terminal close to the Niger delta.
Moreover, the video of the dramatic incident went viral on social media, evidently showing the ship on fire as it sinks into the sea, with the dark and thick black smoke billowing into the sky.
The ship is a floating production storage vessel (FPSO), owned by Nigeria’s Shebah Exploration & Production Company Ltd (SEPCOL).
In a statement released on February 3, Thursday, the flames had destroyed the Trinity Spirit floating production, storage and their offloading vessel as a result of the blast.
But as per sources, there were ten crew members present in that ship before the incident. We are prioritising the investigations concerning their safety and security, SEPCOL Chief Executive Ikemefuna Okafor said in a statement.
However, the statement did not give additional duties on the casualties or the quantity of oil split into the sea.
The Nigerian authorities have described the spill’s impact as being “Like Hiroshima”, that the oil leaked, which caused the death of marine life and damage to mangroves and waterways.
The eruption of the Trinity Spirit is reportedly the fourth major oil spill this year, after disasters in Peru, Ecuador and Thailand.
Nigeria is the 15th biggest oil-producing country globally, producing more than 1.9 million barrels a day, as per the figures of 2016. Nigeria is house to the second-largest proven oil reserves in Africa. It ranked on 15th number in the world every year, an amount equivalent to 1.9 percent of its total proven reserves (as of 2016).
