… As passengers groan amid,heat, crowded Departure Hall ignoring Covid protocols
. By our correspondent
Activities of illegal refining of Petroleum Products popularly called” Kpofire” on Friday reportedly disrupted flights to and from the Port Harcourt International Airport ,Omagwa.
A source who preferred unnamed at the Port Harcourt International Airport told current matters that the thick smoke from the Kpofire darkened the weather thereby causing poor visibility making it difficult for healthy navigation of flights.
Kpofire activities spanning over 6 years have direct consequences on the environment and the health of residents. The black soot which has replaced fine paintings of public and private buildings is the result of the Kpofire.
Residents around the old Port Harcourt Township to Old GRA,Trans Amadi,Diobu and Aba road suffer the effects of the black soot severely particularly in the wee hours of the morning between 5-6 when Kpofire operators while refining their products, intentionally or inadvertently spilled generous amounts of black substances into the air.
A former resident, Emmanuel who spoke with the Current matters revealed that he had serious issues around his chest area and didn’t know what it was until a friend introduced him to a hospital in London where he was advised to have an x-ray.
He said” They discovered black substances around my chest up to my heart side and the doctor asked me how long I have been smoking,I told him that I don’t smoke and he was surprised and wondered how the black substances got into his chest..
” Immediately I came to the conclusion that I had become a victim of the Kpofire black soot reigning in Port Harcourt.
At the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport Abuja, Passengers particularly those booked on Airpeace who rushed to the airport to catch their flights to Port Harcourt were told that they would need to exercise patience as the flight wias delayed for 2 hours. The two hours further got extended to more 3 hours, twenty minutes.
At the time of filing the report it was gathered that the first aircraft had just departed the Port Harcourt International Airport for Lagos.
