A mysterious fire suspected to be from the underground natural gas is raging uncontrollably in Amorji Nike, a local community in the east of Enugu metropolis.
Sources said that a spark may have been caused by the drilling of a water borehole at the premises of Caritas University, a Catholic faith-based institution on May 22, resulting in the inferno.
The government of Enugu State, South-East Nigeria, has ordered the closure of all roads and access routes to the site, as the fire continues to burn.
The area has been cordoned off and the government has barred journalists from accessing the area.
There is no previous record of the discovery or an oil and gas exploration in the Amorji Nike community, where natives have lived for ages and doing daily farming chores.
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The locals claim that no kind of pipeline traversed their area.
Firefighters in the state have been unable to put out the heavy inferno, more than a week after its outbreak.
Officials of the Enugu State government could not speak on the development, except a Press Statement assuring the general public, especially residents of the affected community, of their safety and security.
(Editor: Ifeanyi Mark)
