BBC News Online: World: Africa

Eyewitness: Lagos blast

People were evacuated from the surrounding area

A fire, we're not certain yet as to how it started, reached the ammunitions dump in the Ikeja military cantonment which is situated just before Maryland suburb.

When the fire reached the munitions depot it set off a number of the explosives which were stored there.

There were huge booms, explosions, that was the way it started.

Explosions

The blasts sent red fireballs into the sky.

There were huge booms in terms of explosions and then there were subsequent tremors which followed the explosions.

There was a lot of rattling. A number of glass panes, from where I was standing, were shattered, both on cars and on nearby buildings.

Though I understand the damage in the immediate vicinity was much worse.

A lot of people would have been rendered homeless. A number of buildings had their roofs blown off.

Fleeing

The initial reaction was panic.

In the immediate aftermath of the explosions you had a whole lot of people - literally thousands of people on the roads.

Those who resided in the barracks in the military cantonment were ordered out.

Those in the immediate vicinity of the explosions, as far as a kilometre or so in either direction, were also forced to evacuate their buildings.

Many had little more than the clothes they had on.

A lot of people were running.

Later on by about 1030 local time (2330 GMT), when it looked like the bigger explosions had stopped, people began trooping back towards their residences.

If you were an eye witness to the explosions or know of people involved, email us with your experiences. Use the postform below.