Pipeline blast kills up to 200 in Nigeria

Petrol gushing from a ruptured Nigeria pipeline caught fire today as villagers scavenged for free fuel, sparking an inferno that killed up to 200 people and left charred bodies scattered around the site.

Grim-faced rescue workers swung corpses into a mass grave as dozens of other scorched bodies awaited collection next to the pipeline.

It appeared some victims whose bodies lay further away had tried to flee the unfolding disaster only to be overtaken by flames spreading across the fuel slick.

Police and rescue workers said the villagers had been collecting the gushing fuel outside the waterside village of Ilado, about 30 miles east of the main Nigerian city of Lagos when the fuel ignited, killing dozens.

“Between 150 and 200 people died,” Lagos Police Commissioner Emmanuel Adebayo told reporters.

It wasn’t known what started the fuel ablaze.

The Red Cross said it had workers helping survivors.

Red Cross spokeswoman Okon Umoh said many of the bodies had fallen into the water.

The impoverished people of Africa’s oil giant often tap into pipelines, seeking fuel for cooking or resale on the black market.

The highly volatile petroleum can ignite, incinerating those collecting it.

In September 2004, an oil pipeline exploded near Lagos as thieves tried to siphon oil, and up to 50 people perished.

A 1998 pipeline blast killed over 1,000 in southern Nigeria.

Most of Nigeria’s oil is pumped in the southern Niger Delta region, far from Lagos. Pipes carry the crude to refineries across the vast nation.

Nigeria, which normally pumps 2.5 million barrels of crude per day, is Africa’s largest producer and the fifth-largest source of imports to the US.

Despite the oil, most Nigerians are poor, a volatile duality. Militants have kidnapped foreign oil workers to press their demands for local control of oil revenues by inhabitants of the oil-producing south who feel cheated out of the wealth produced in their backyards.

Other groups have used such kidnappings as bargaining chips in recent years to prod oil companies to increase jobs or improve benefits.

Hostages are usually released unharmed.

Three foreign oil workers who had been abducted in the oil hub of Port Harcourt were released Friday, a day after they were snatched from a bus as they headed to work, regional police commander Samuel Adetuyi said.

It was the second attack this week on foreigners in Port Harcourt, where many oil-services companies keep their main Nigerian operations.

On Wednesday an unidentified gunman riding a motorcycle shot and killed an American riding in a car to work at the offices of the US drilling equipment maker Baker Hughes Inc.

The FBI is assisting Nigerian authorities looking into the US oil worker’s killing, an FBI spokesman in Washington said.

Another FBI official said the bureau was working on the pipeline explosion case, but did not explain whether foul play was suspected.

The FBI often gets involved in criminal investigations abroad when Americans are involved or when asked by the host country.

The pipeline explosion tempered a drop in crude oil futures as the International Energy Agency sharply cut its forecasts for world oil demand.