Injured 'fled Nigeria pipeline blast'

By Sola Odunfa
BBC, Lagos

Victims of the explosion at a fuel pipeline outside Lagos were said to have been taking petrol from pools created after the pipe was vandalised.

Villagers fled, fearing arrest

They all suffered a horrible death.

Even a day after the explosion, a tall column of thick black smoke and occasional tongues of flame from the fire could be seen several kilometres away.

Fishermen were the first rescuers to reach Imore village, where the explosion took place on Thursday.

By noon that day they had taken many bodies out of the swamps. Police and firemen joined them later, to bring out yet more dead.

But as soon as government security personnel arrived, villagers began to flee for fear that they might be arrested for vandalising the pipes.

This type of greed will lead people to their grave Governor Pedro

The government said after a major explosion at Jesse in the Niger Delta some years ago that communities would be held liable for any vandalism of pipes that led to loss of life.

The doors and windows of nearly all the houses in Imore were open and many of them still had their lights on, suggesting villagers left in a hurry.

Villagers' livestock roamed the streets freely.

Police say there may be more than 50 dead.

But witnesses across the river who had helped with rescue work said that the dead numbered 200.

They said that 15 bodies had been washed away by tidal waves on Friday. Boat operators said more bodies were trapped in the swamps.

Deputy Lagos state governor, Femi Pedro, blamed vandalism of petrol pipelines on "greed and criminal tendency", rather than poverty.

"It is not because of poverty, it's not because of hunger, it is greed. This type of greed will lead people to their grave."

Fire officials have said the worst is over at Imore and that the fire would eventually burn itself out.