Two more bodies have been recovered from an exploded offshore oil facility in Nigeria’s south-south Delta state, according to a Monday afternoon report by Channels Television.
The floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) facility, Trinity Spirit, which belongs to Shebah Exploration & Production Company Ltd (SEPCOL), caught fire on Wednesday.
The Channels Television report said the oil company confirmed the recovery of the two bodies in a statement on Monday, following its earlier statement on Sunday that revealed one body had been recovered and three crew members rescued.
Ten crew members were said to be on board the FPSO at the time of the explosion.
SEPCOL said four crew members were still missing.
“We have submitted incident reports to the police and relevant authorities to assist in the ongoing investigation, and due process is being carried out to establish the identities of the bodies,” SEPCOL Executive Director Ikemefuna Okafor said in a statement. Monday’s statement, according to the TV Channel Report.
“Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families of all the victims of this unfortunate incident, and we are available to provide whatever support is needed.
“So far, the total number of potential crew members accounted for is six, including the three people who were found alive last week.
“Our priority remains focused on establishing the whereabouts, safety and protection of the four crew members who are still missing.
“Furthermore, our efforts are geared towards cleaning up the area to minimize any damage to the environment and trying to determine the exact cause of the explosion,” Okafor said.
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He thanked Clean Nigeria Associates, Chevron’s National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency, the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, Shell Petroleum Development Company, the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, as well as to the communities, in particular the fishermen, for their assistance during the incident.
“Our Crisis Management Team will continue to monitor developments in the investigations and update all interested parties with new information accordingly.
“We are calling on members of the public to stay away from the area and to contact the company with any information that may help our investigations,” he said.