(Archive photo)
Photo: AP
Pipelines in Nigeria (Archive photo)
Photo: AP
Pipeline explosion in Lagos kills up to 500 people
Up to 500 people burned alive on Tuesday after fuel from vandalized pipeline explodes in Nigeria's largest city, Lagos
A ruptured gasoline pipeline burst into flames Tuesday after thieves punctured the pipeline overnight.
Hundreds of residents of the Abule Agba district went to scoop fuel using plastic containers when the pipeline erupted, leaving up to 500 people dead as rescue workers tried to document more charred corpses lying at the scene.
Hundreds of bodies could be seen jumbled and fused together in the raging flames at the blast site. Intense heat kept rescue workers back as smoke billowed over the heavily populated Adule Egba neighborhood.
"We are talking hundreds (dead). We are yet to confirm the death toll so we don't know if it is 300, 400 or 500," Red Cross secretary-general Abiodun Orebiyi said, adding that 60 people
had been evacuated to hospital with serious burns.
A senior official for the Nigerian Red Cross, Ige Oladimeji, said his workers had documented "Over 200 and still counting."
Similar explosion killed more than 150 in May
"We can only recognize them through the skulls, the bodies are scattered over the ground," Said Oladimeji. Workers "Can't get close enough because the fire is still burning."
Witnesses said the rupture on the gasoline pipeline came shortly after midnight, with scavengers collecting the fuel in plastic jerry cans for hours before the puddles of collected petrol caught fire after dawn.
It wasn't clear what caused the rupture or ignition of the spilled fuel. Nigerians often tap into pipelines carrying refined fuel, scooping up the raw product in buckets or plastic bags.
Spilled fuel spreading in pools sometimes ignites, immolating people nearby.
In May, more than 150 people died in a similar explosion in Lagos.
Nigeria is Africa's largest oil producer, but corruption, poor management and limited refining capacity often leaves the country short of fuel for vehicles and stoves. Shortages in recent days have prompted hours-long lines at Lagos filling stations.
