At least 45 people were killed in Nigeria's commercial capital, Lagos, on Tuesday after a fire broke out as fuel thieves burst open a petroleum pipeline to scoop out fuel illegally, police said.
Some of the thieves burned to death in the fire that ensued, while most of the victims were residents of Abule-Egba, a Lagos suburb, where the pipelines were laid.
The police spokesman in Lagos, Bode Ojajuni, said the police had ensured that the state-run Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation stopped pumping fuel through the affected pipes to assist in bringing the fire under control.
He said 45 of those that had been confirmed dead had been taken to some mortuaries in the area, while more bodies were still being recovered.
Residents said thieves had successfully stolen more than 150,000 liters of petrol in five tankers and left the area. Then more thieves arrived and burst open the pipeline to steal more fuel.
In the scramble by the new set of thieves, a fire ignited, with many of the thieves catching fire and dying. The residents estimated some 80 people had died
The fire later burnt many houses in the area, just as many residents were either killed or suffered varying degrees of burns.
A fuel scarcity that gripped Nigerian cities more than four weeks ago had made fuel a hot commodity for thieves who make brisk business with stolen fuel.
Similar accidents have killed some 2,000 in the oil-rich country.
(Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa) 26/12/2006)