Deadly pipeline explosion hits Nigeria

An oil pipeline has exploded in Nigeria and up to 200 people are feared dead, AP reports quoting a local television station.

Nigeria’s Channels Television reported on Friday the fiery blast came as villagers flocked to a ruptured conduit at Ilado town outside the main city of Lagos to scoop up fuel gushing out.

Up to 200 may have perished in the explosion, the station said.

AFP said, also quoting local private television station channels, that more than a hundred people died on Friday when an oil pipeline blew up in a village near the Nigerian economic capital Lagos.

“Over one hundred people were burnt to death and beyond recognition following the explosion. Our men are on the ground on the scene of the disaster,” Abiodun Orebiyi, the Nigerian Red Cross secretary-general, told AFP by telephone.

The TV did not show any images of the blast but during the morning a huge column of very black smoke was visible from the centre of Lagos, rising from the vicinity of Apapa port, where numerous oil installations are located.

The authorities were not immediately able to confirm the toll.

Agencies