Pipeline explosion kills 200
LAGOS, Nigeria – A massive explosion at a ruptured oil pipeline ignited a spreading fire that killed at least 200 people on Friday.
Triggered by a spark too close to a gushing stream of gasoline, the blast occurred near Ilado village, 30 miles east of Lagos. Many of the victims were apparently villagers scavenging oil who tried to flee when flames spread across a fuel slick and overtook them.
After the blast, charred, unrecognizable bodies and piles of white ash lay scattered on the ground beside dozens of discarded plastic cans used to carry off oil, while black smoke choked the air, said officials at the scene.
Rescue workers buried scores of bodies, swinging them into a mass grave in Ilado, and saying it was necessary to reduce risk of infecting the region’s water supply.
In this oil-rich nation of mostly poor people, oil theft is common. So are deadly explosions. About 50 people died in a similar blast in Ilado last year. In 1998, an even larger explosion killed more than 700.
State officials at the scene of the disaster in Ilado seemed appalled by the scale of destruction, and struggled to quantify it.
“You can see the corpses. Some are burnt to ash. Others are remnants,” said Emmanuel Adebayo, the state police commissioner, who said at least 200 died. A Nigerian National Petroleum Corp. official put the death toll at 300.
State Health Commissioner Tola Kasali, surveying the wreckage in Ilado, expressed grave resignation.
“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 Kasali.
“Anywhere you have a pipeline in this country, you have this problem because people are greedy and they want quick money.”
Nigeria is one of the world’s largest oil producers, normally pumping 2.5 million barrels of crude each day, and is the fifth-largest supplier to the United States. Yet Nigeria is so riddled with corruption and political instability and crime that oil production benefits Nigerians unevenly, causing widespread bitterness.
Oil production repeatedly has been affected by attacks on pipelines and oil workers, frequently reducing output and contributing to rising international oil prices.
In parts of Nigeria, oil theft is highly organized, controlled by armed militias who pipe oil directly onto barges for export. In other places, it is sporadic and uncontrolled as villagers siphon oil into portable cans to use for cooking or to sell on the black market.
In the Niger Delta, where most of the country’s oil is found, militant groups sometimes espouse a political agenda for stealing oil, claiming that it should belong to poor communities who rarely see any of its profit.
In recent months, militants have kidnapped foreign oil workers to press their demands. On Friday, three foreign oil workers were released a day after they were snatched from a bus as they headed to work in Port Harcourt, where many oil companies operate in Nigeria.