Pipeline Blast Kills 200 in Nigeria
Victims Include Villagers Scavenging From Gasoline Line
By Dulue Mbachu
Associated Press
Saturday, May 13, 2006; A12
ILADO, Nigeria, May 12 -- Gasoline gushing from a ruptured pipeline exploded Friday as villagers scavenged for fuel, setting off an inferno that killed about 200 in this oil-rich country of mostly poor people.
Rescue workers put corpses into a mass grave as dozens of other scorched bodies awaited collection.
Other bodies floated alongside dozens of plastic jerrycans in the nearby waters of the coastal mangrove swamp. The jerrycans, which had contained pilfered gas, were twisted by the heat of the explosion.
More than 1,000 people in Nigeria, Africa's largest oil producer, have died in recent years as fuel they were stealing from pipelines caught fire.
"Because this thing has happened many times before, we thought it would be a deterrent, but apparently it wasn't enough deterrent for these people who died," said Lagos State Health Commissioner Tola Kasali, surveying the scene near Ilado, about 30 miles east of Lagos, Nigeria's commercial capital.
"Anywhere you have a pipeline in this country, you have this problem because people are greedy and they want quick money," Kasali said.
It was not known what set off the fire. An FBI official in Washington said the bureau was investigating the incident but did not say whether foul play was suspected. The FBI often gets involved in criminal investigations abroad when Americans are involved or when asked by the host country.
Police and rescue workers said villagers were collecting the gushing gas when the fuel ignited. Emmanuel Adebayo, the Lagos police commissioner, said 150 to 200 people died. The Red Cross said it was treating survivors.
By the end of the day, about 100 of the dead had been interred, and Kasali said cleanup efforts would resume Saturday. He said the uncollected bodies pose a health risk to the millions of inhabitants of Lagos.
"We just decided to give them a mass burial because no one can recognize them -- even their family members can't identify them," he said. "We're concerned that if we don't do that, we'll create a health emergency in Lagos since it happened by the shore, and the water will just flow back into the city."
The pipeline was run by Nigeria's state oil company and was used to transport gasoline across the country for domestic consumption.
Impoverished Nigerians often tap pipelines, seeking fuel for cooking or resale on the black market.
In 2004 a pipeline exploded near Lagos as thieves tried to siphon fuel, killing as many as 50 people. A 1998 pipeline blast killed more than 700 in southern Nigeria.
Nigeria, with daily production of 2.5 million barrels of oil, is the fifth-largest provider of oil to the United States.
