Dramatic footage as giant oil vessel explodes, sinks off Nigerian coast

Nigeria faces environmental disaster

Local media reporting 10 deaths

Reports from Nigeria indicates that a giant oil production ship with capacity to store up to 2 million barrels of oil has exploded off the county’s coast.

According to local reports, including US-based Sahara Reporters, the Trinity Spirit exploded on Thursday morning at the Ukpokiti oil field.

The field is located off Nigeria’s coast near the Escravos terminal close to the River Niger Delta.

Dramatic footages shared on social media shows the vessel on fire with huge billows of smoke rising into the air.

At a point, it is clear that the vessel is sinking. Some local media portals are reporting 10 dead. There is yet to be any official statement by any government institution.

According to the UK-based EOS Risk Group, the TRINITY SPIRIT was built in 1976. It comes with a 274,774 Dead Weight & a length of 337.05m and a weight of 54.5m.

Different people are expressing varied concerns over the issue with one of the strong voices being that of environmentalists who fear that Nigeria faces a huge crisis with the accident and its immediate and medium to long term aftermath.

Watch the viral video of the incident as shared on Twitter