A Rivers State civil-society group on Friday urged the media to treat as unverified a widely circulated report that 37 people died after inhaling suspected toxic fumes at Okari Jetty, Okrika Mainland, on 3 September 2026.
LightHope Succor Worldwide Initiative said it had made preliminary enquiries with senior officers of the Nigeria Police Force, the Nigerian Navy and the Nigerian Army responsible for the area. The organisation said those authorities told it that no such mass-death incident occurred at the jetty on that date.
“Our preliminary investigation has been unable to establish the veracity of the reported 37 fatalities,” the group said in a statement signed for it by Evelyn Williams. “The information obtained from the relevant security authorities instead indicates that the report is fake news and without credible factual basis.”
The group called on those who first circulated the claim to produce verifiable evidence and asked newsrooms to apply editorial checks before repeating an allegation of dozens of deaths.
It added that the statement should not be read as a denial of oil theft, pipeline vandalism or related environmental and security problems in the Niger Delta, but as a demand for accuracy when reports involve large loss of life.
What other accounts say
Rivers Police spokesperson ASP Blessing Agabe has not published an official casualty figure. She has been quoted confirming that people reportedly died while attempting to steal crude oil, that no formal complaint had been received at the time she was contacted, and that investigation was continuing to establish the facts.
The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps has said circulating casualty numbers remain unverified. Reuters reported that it could not independently confirm what happened or the death toll
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