Date: Tue, 26 Dec 2006 11:02:35 -0800
From: "JODY MCCAFFREE" <mccaffrees@verizon.net>  View Contact Details View Contact Details   Add Mobile Alert
Subject: Pipeline explosion tragedy
To: Undisclosed-Recipient@,
Pipeline explosion kills at least 200
POSTED: 1504 GMT (2304 HKT), December 26, 2006

Story Highlights

• NEW: Hundreds of casualties expected because of densely populated area
• 10 buildings, cars also damaged
• Fuel shortages have led to people tapping pipelines
• Similar explosion happened in May, killing 150 people in Lagos
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LAGOS, Nigeria (CNN) -- At least 200 people were killed outside Lagos, Nigeria, in a massive explosion and fire that ignited as crowds carried away buckets of refined fuel from a tapped fuel pipeline, the Nigerian Red Cross said.

Extreme heat has prevented rescue workers from recovering bodies, and they fear the death toll could rise significantly.

At least 60 others were injured with burns, Nigerian Red Cross Secretary General Abiodun Orebiyi said.

"The explosion happened in a densely populated area, and that is why we're having these high casualty figures," Orebiyi added. (Watch how the pipeline incinerated buildings around the site Video)

The fire burned for nearly 12 hours after the blast, which happened around 1 a.m. local time (7 p.m. ET Monday) before it was brought under control, Orebiyi said.

By Tuesday afternoon, it was still unclear how many people were killed.

"We can see more bodies that have been burned," he said. "We have yet to determine the number of hundreds that have died in this explosion."

The blast and fire also damaged 10 buildings and vehicles that were parked at a large garage nearby, Orebiyi said.

Stealing fuel from the country's pipelines is a common and many times deadly occurrence in Nigeria. In May, at least 150 people died when vandals tried to tap a petrol pipeline outside Lagos.

"People try to siphon fuel from a pipeline, and after that, maybe an hour, a couple hours after that -- someone lights a cigarette or a motorcycle engine backfires, and an explosion appears," CNN's Jeff Koinange explained.

Despite the country's oil riches, much of Nigeria's population suffers from fuel shortages. People often tap into pipelines that cross their lands, seeking fuel for cooking or resale on the black market.

In September 2004, an oil pipeline exploded near Lagos, as thieves tried to siphon oil from it. Up to 50 people perished in the flames.

A 1998 pipeline blast killed more than 1,000 in southern Nigeria.

Nigeria is the fourth largest exporter of oil to the United States, according to the Energy Information Administration.

Copyright 2006 CNN.

 

 

By Akintunde Akinleye 2 hours, 12 minutes ago
LAGOS (Reuters) - Up to 500 people were burned alive on Tuesday when fuel from a vandalized pipeline exploded in Nigeria's largest city, Lagos, emergency workers said.

Hundreds of residents of the Abule Egba district went to scoop fuel using plastic containers after thieves punctured the underground pipeline overnight to siphon fuel into a road tanker, locals said.
Abiodun Orebiyi, secretary-general of the Nigerian Red Cross, said there was no official death toll but estimated that between 200 and 500 people could have been killed.
"We know it is over 200 (dead). We are talking hundreds. We don't know if it is 300, 400 or 500," he said, adding that 60 people had been evacuated to hospital with serious burns.
This Reuters witness saw the remains of hundreds of bodies, most burned beyond recognition, lying at the scene of the explosion as emergency workers tried to put out the fire.
Some corpses lay rigid on the ground -- arms and legs in the air as if still trying to escape -- their clothes and skin burned off by the blast.
"A lot of people have been roasted. They are littered on the ground," a rescue worker said.
A group of women sat crying on a bench.
"One friend knocked on our door and told my husband they were taking fuel. My husband ran out with two buckets and now he has gone. This is a curse from God," said a woman who gave her name as Ole.
A similar explosion at a vandalized pipeline in another part of Lagos in May killed about 200 people.
Pipeline vandalism and fuel theft are common in Nigeria, the world's eighth largest oil exporter where most people live in poverty.
Industry experts estimate that about five percent of the country's crude oil production is stolen for export by big syndicates with contacts in the military and government.
But small-scale theft of gasoline and diesel, for private use or sale by the road-side, is much more deadly because of the highly flammable nature of the fuel.
(additional reporting by Tom Ashby and Victoria Ashby)

 

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