50 now feared dead in Lagos blast

Up to 50 people are now feared dead in a blast which rocked the Nigerian capital Lagos today.

The blast rocked a crowded neighbourhood in the heart of Nigeria’s commercial capital today, killing as many as 50 people, witnesses and local radio reported.

The explosion occurred about 12:30pm (11.30pm Irish time) in a poor, overcrowded neighbourhood on Lagos Island, the centre of the high-rise business district in this city of 12 million.

It tore through a three-storey building in a blast that could be heard for miles. The roar and the tower of smoke that followed brought rescuers and onlookers running.

Resident Omololu Kassim, who was helping carry the victims, said he saw 40 dead and as many injured.

Radio stations were reporting up to 50 killed. An Associated Press reporter at the scene saw six badly mutilated bodies.

Most of the building had collapsed and two nearby buildings badly shaken by the blast were leaning precariously.

Residents said the building housed a bank, on one floor, and other floors of residential apartments.

The apartments apparently accounted for the high casualty toll on a Sunday, when banks normally are closed. Many in the neighbourhood were at church when the explosion occurred.

Crowds massed at the scene, and the throngs and the narrow streets slowed ambulances trying to reach the victims.

Onlookers wailed as police and other rescue workers struggled to pull corpses from the rubble.

There was no clear word on the cause.

“We don’t know what happened. We can’t confirm the number of people dead, but our men are already there investigating,” police spokesman Emmanuel Ighodalo said.

Lagos Island is one of two islands, that, with the mainland, make up the city of Lagos. Lagos Island is thickly packed with both residential buildings and the offices of banks and other businesses.

Congestion there has prompted a number of companies to move elsewhere in Lagos in recent years.

On January 27, 2002, a series of explosions at an army munitions depot in Lagos killed more than 1,000 people.