LAGOS (Reuters) - Up to 500 people were burnt alive on Tuesday when fuel from a vandalised pipeline exploded in Nigeria's largest city, Lagos, emergency workers said.
Hundreds of residents of the Abule Agba district went to scoop fuel using plastic containers after thieves punctured the pipeline overnight.
"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.
Hundreds of bodies, most burnt beyond recognition, were lying at the scene of the explosion as emergency workers tried to put out the fire.
A Red Cross volunteer at the scene said: "A lot of people have been roasted. They are littered on the ground." |