[Business & Human Rights Resource Centre invited Shell to respond. See item below for response]…[A] fire that forced Shell to close its Trans Niger Pipeline in southern Nigeria raises serious questions about the way the oil giant is operating, Amnesty International and the Nigerian National Coalition on Gas Flaring and Oil Spills (NACGOND) said...Eight Shell contractors were arrested by Nigerian security services in connection with the fire that broke out…[on] 19 June…A Shell-led investigation into the cause of the fire is due to begin… Shell claims the fire was a consequence of oil theft. However, community members told NACGOND that in the days leading up to the fire Nigerian security forces prevented anyone other than Shell’s contractors going near the area of the spill...Tracy Adole of NACGOND [said]. “What’s needed is a fully transparent and independent inquiry…Shell was quick to blame oil theft as the cause of the latest pollution and fire at Bodo, but the company has yet to fully answer for the role of its own contractors.”