Toll from Nigeria blasts rises to more than 1,000

The official death toll from the Lagos factory blast has risen to more than 1,000.

A Lagos state official says most of the dead are children who drowned in a canal.

Hundreds of people fled in panic following the series of explosions at an army weapons dump.

Home Affairs Commissioner Musiliu Obanikoro made the comments in a statement broadcast on the private Lagos radio station Rhythm.

"From everything I have seen, as more bodies have been found over the days, the number of people who are deceased is now over 1,000 people," Obanikoro said.

Without elaborating, Obanikoro said the discovery of new bodies was finally tapering off.

"We are thankful that the numbers (being collected) are now slowing," Obanikoro said.

Rescue workers ended their search at the Oke Afa canal on Friday, when officials said they did not have an updated death toll.

Distraught families continue to search for missing loved ones at a nearby morgue, where some who found the remains of relatives poured bottles of perfume on the decaying corpses.

The Red Cross has reunited 1,800 children with their parents and is feeding 11,500 people displaced by the blasts.