Scores killed in Nigeria oil fire
Red Cross says about 100 people have died in pipeline explosion in Lagos suburb.
He said: “At least 20 people have now been taken to hospital. The fire occurred in a residential area, and it is still continuing. The [surrounding] buildings are in flames.”
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“When the Caterpillar driver came, the people here warned him there was a pipeline under the ground. He said he’d be careful, but the minute he started work this happened” Jimoh Hazan, resident of Ijegun |
Chinedu Eze, 19, was writing an exam in the Ijegun Comprehensive Junior High School when the explosion occurred.
Earlier, local people threw sand and water at the flames in an effort to help firefighters extinguish the blaze.
Firefighters concentrated their efforts on preventing the fire from reaching a petrol filling station, which was surrounded by a muddy pond of water.
A journalist at the scene of the blast told AFP news agency that the area, which was near a primary school, was littered with shoes and bags belonging to pupils.
Poor safety measures
Sarah Simpson, another journalist speaking from Port Harcourt in the Niger Delta, said that very little has changed regarding the country’s attempts to avoid disasters that can occur around oil pipelines.
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She said: “Investment and money has not been put into making these pipelines safer.”
Simpson also said that poor maintenance can also be attributed to the pipelines being targeted by criminal gangs.
She added: “These gangs steal millions of dollars of oil from the pipelines.
“However, some of the fires are triggered when local residents hear that they may be damaged, and gather to scoop up fuel.”
Pipeline fires are common in Nigeria. More than 400 people died in two pipeline explosions in Lagos in 2006, and at least 40 died in December last year.