LONDON, Oct. 30 -- Joy Amos was 28. An explosion at her home in Bille, a community in Nigeria's Rivers State, left her with injuries from which she died on 22 September, according to Amnesty International. The organisation's September documents give conflicting dates for the explosion. Amnesty says methane has been bubbling up in Bille's rivers, swamps and drinking-water wells since October 2025, and that the source remains unidentified in its reporting.

The unanswered question about that gas sits on top of a much older one. Shell sold its Nigerian onshore subsidiary in March 2025, and with it a network of pipelines, wells and a pollution record that communities, regulators and courts are still arguing over. What the operator knew about ...