Several people were feared dead in a midnight explosion at one of the pipelines belonging to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation at Takwa Bay Beach, Lagos.
Sources said that an oil spillage occurred and hundreds of people had gone to the scene to scoop fuel when the explosion occurred. Majority of those scooping fuel at the time of the explosion were killed.
There was no immediate explanation to the cause of the explosion, but it was attributed to greed on the part of vandals who drill holes on exposed pipeline to scoop fuel.
Not too far away from the scene of the explosion, in a pit allegedly dug by suspected vandals a pool of petrol was seen. Some of the villagers alleged that it is from the pool that the scooping took place.
Some of the villagers, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the vandals came to the area in canoes laden with several hundreds of 50 liter Jerry cans.
According to the villagers, the vandals filled the Jerry cans with products, tied them to several yards of ropes with which they dragged the already filled Jerry cans across the murky waters to a place considered safe before they would eventually load them on their boats.
However, rescue workers were yet to recover any body at the site of the explosion but the spokesman of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), South-West Zone, Ibrahim Farinloye, who confirmed the incident, said relations of victims may have carried away bodies of the deceased persons for fear that government agencies might use it to track down the location of the vandals.
Farinloye said suspected vandals punctured the pipeline at Takwa Bay area, adding that the pipeline takes petroleum products from Atlas Cove at Apapa, to Ejigbo and Mosimi depots in Lagos and Ogun States respectively.
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