LAGOS, March 15 (Reuters) - A pipeline explosion on Sunday
killed at least 15 people and destroyed about 50 buildings after
a fire broke out in a suburb of Lagos, Nigeria's commercial
capital, emergency services said.
Several people were injured and taken to hospital, according
to Ibrahim Farinloye, zonal coordinator for the National
Emergency Management Agency (NEMA).
Plumes of smoke billowed into the air as people watched,
while firefighters tried to quench the flames, a Reuters witness
said.
Farinloye said some of the buildings collapsed while many
roof-tops were blown up. He said the cause of the explosion was
not known.
"We cannot actually say immediately what caused it. There
was fire on the pipeline," Farinloye told Reuters. "The
explosion destroyed over 50 residential houses."
Pipeline fires in Nigeria, Africa's biggest crude oil
producer, are common and they are mostly caused by theft and
sabotage. The methods used to steal oil often result in
accidents that cause fires.
"The fire started with smoke," one eyewitness said. The
smoke was coming up and later we heard a sound ... and some
houses collapsed even the roofs."
It was not immediately clear what, if any, impact the
pipeline fire would have on the operations of the Nigerian
National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).