Commonwealth Secretariat
  1. Home
  2. What's New
  3. Who We Are
  4. What We Do
    1. Democracy
    2. Economics
    3. Education
    4. Gender
    5. Governance
    6. Health
    7. Human Rights
    8. Law
    9. Small States
    10. Sport
    11. Sustainability
    12. Youth
    13. Millennium Development Goals
    14. Funding
  5. News
    1. Events
    2. News Archive Search
    3. Picture Stories
  6. Media Room
    1. Press Archive Search
    2. Media Contacts
    3. CommonwealthTV
    4. Podcast: Pick of the Commonwealth
    5. Events
    6. In the Media
    7. Updates
    8. Downloads
  7. Resources
    1. Documents
    2. Image Library
    3. Libary & Archives
    4. Publications
  8. Publications
  9. Employment
  10. FAQs
    1. Acronyms
  11. Contact Us
Commonwealth Secretariat press release

Commonwealth Secretary-General Expresses Sorrow Over Pipeline Tragedy

21 October 1998

The Commonwealth Secretary-General, Emeka Anyaoku, has sent a message of sympathy to General Abdulsalami Abubakar, Nigeria's Head of State, following the deaths of at least 500 people at a petrol pipeline explosion in southern Nigeria.

The Secretary-General, who is in the Cook Islands on Commonwealth business, said: "It is indeed a tragedy of immense proportions and I am sending this message of sympathy and condolence to your Government and to the families of those who have died and been injured in such awful circumstances."

The deaths occurred on 19 October in Warri, Nigeria, where local people were collecting fuel which ignited from a broken petroleum pipeline.

 

98/75                 21 October 1998

Share this page
About this

ISSUED BY THE COMMUNICATIONS AND PUBLIC AFFAIRS DIVISION
Commonwealth Secretariat Marlborough House Pall Mall London SW1Y 5HX United Kingdom
Tel: +44 (0)20 7747 6385/6 Fax: +44 (0)20 7839 9081
Email: info@commonwealth.int