Hundreds perish in pipeline
fire
By EMMA EMEOZOR, IME OLA, PHILIP NWOSU, CHRISTOPHER OJI,
DARE ODUFOWOKAN, JULIANA FRANCIS and OMONAZE BAZUAYE
Wednesday,
December 27, 2006
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Charred bodies at the scene
PHOTOS: TIMOTHY OYEOLA |
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The joy of Christmas
was on Tuesday dampened when fire caused by petroleum pipeline explosion, in the
Abule-Egba area of Lagos, consumed hundreds of people. Among the about 500 people
burnt to death were a woman with a baby strapped to her back, scores of other
women, men and youths.
Daily Sun gathered that the majority of those who
died in the fire were scooping petrol from a burst Nigerian National Petroleum
Corporation (NNPC) pipeline. Others were innocent victims whose homes and shops
were burnt by the fuel fire.
It was learnt that the events leading to the
tragedy started around midnight when some people allegedly arrived the area with
tankers, which they loaded with fuel from the burst pipeline. At dawn, Daily Sun
gathered, residents of the area, who learnt of the burst pipeline, trooped to
the place to help themselves. Their activities triggered a fire, which set the
area ablaze around 8am.
An eyewitness claimed that the woman, who was
burnt to death with her baby, had earlier quarreled with a neighbour, who attempted
to dissuade her from scooping more fuel from the burst pipeline.
One of the
rescue operators told Daily Sun on Tuesday that more than 60 injured victims had
been rushed to the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), while several
were hospitalised at nearby hospitals at Abule-Egba.
Besides charred remains
of humans burnt beyond recognition, which littered the pathway to the scene of
the explosion, several vehicles, shops and residential homes were also razed to
the ground.
A lady told Daily Sun that some innocent people, who didn’t
came out to scoop fuel, were also caught in the early morning fire. Residents
claimed that long ago they reported the illegal activities of the vandals in the
area but never received any response.
Secretary-general of the Red Cross Society
in Lagos, Abiodun Orebiyi, told Daily Sun, at the scene of the incident, that
not less than 500 charred remains of victims are littering the place.
“
From what we can see on the ground, the death toll is high. The fire is still
burning, so we are yet to confirm the death toll. We don’t know if it is
300, 400 or 500”, he said, adding that about 200 people had been evacuated
to hospitals with serious burns. Daily Sun saw hundreds of bodies, most of them
burnt beyond recognition, lying at the scene of the explosion as emergency workers
battled frantically to put out the fire. Speaking to Daily Sun amid tears, Musibau
Okeowo, who lost his brother in the inferno, explained that he had warned his
late brother not to partake in the scramble that preceded the inferno, but his
warning was not heeded.
“When I learnt that Taju was here with other
people scooping fuel, I rushed down here to warn him to leave immediately. He
refused and told me to mind my own business. I left with a threat to report him
to our uncle in Alakuko. Shortly after that I heard of this fire,” he explained.
A resident of the area, a journalist who pleaded anonymity, said he was drinking
around 2a.m with some of his friends near the scene when they noticed the vandals,
in company of persons in police and army uniforms, going to scoop fuel.
His
words: “Yes, I can tell you that they brought 10 tankers, condoned off the
area and filed all their tankers. It was after they left that ‘area boys’
and some other people joined them. Even some men who were in the beer palour with
us died in the fire. We did not know they were part of the vandals.”
Corroborating
his claims, Mr Raphael Ihuoma, a businessman who lives in Arowolo Street, Awori
Bus-stop, Abule-Egba, said: “It was around 2 a.m in the morning. We saw
so many people outside and they said people were scooping fuel at the back of
our house. Some people asked us to run outside for safety. We even started packing
our household things and in the process, I lost my generator and handset. By that
time, there was no explosion, people were still scooping fuel, but at exactly
8.30a.m there was an explosion, which killed over 2,000 people. In fact, it was
not an easy thing because the pipeline is near a mechanic workshop and a sawmill.
Everything around there, including vehicles, shops, planks, everything got burnt.”
Mr.
Danel Umoh, resource development and training officer of The Nigerian Red Cross
(NRC), who led a team of about 30 Red Cross rescue officers to the scene, said:
“We arrived the scene at 5a.m in the morning and the crowd was enormous.
They vandalised the place and were busy scooping fuel. When we arrived, there
was no explosion, but the place was rowdy. It was like a market place and because
of fuel scarcity, people were buying and selling. The explosion came up at about
8.30a.m and it engulfed mainly those who were there at the scene before the fire
extended to other places.”
According to him, his men rescued more
than 60 people, who were still conscious and took them to Lagos State University
Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), Ikeja for treatment, while some corpses were deposited
at various mortuaries. He said even though the police tried to disperse the crowd,
it was not possible because people were desperately looking for fuel.
Mr Umoh,
a member of the State Disaster Management Committee, said: “Prior to Christmas,
we held a meeting to warn people about imminent outbreak of fire because of the
fuel scarcity. We were on alert because the pipeline vandals are known to be ruthless.”
Red
Cross officials at the scene said their major operational role was moving identified
victims to the hospital for emergency treatment. A member of the Nigeria Red Cross,
Gambo Zakari, told Daily Sun that no fewer than 120 bodies were already deposited
at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, Ikeja.
State coordinator,
Federal Road Safety Corps, (FRSC), Toyin Kadiku, who is incharge of Special Marshal,
described the rescue operation as successful. He explained that there was quick
response to distress call from the area, revealing that they got a distress call
around 7.30a.m and quickly mobilised other units alongside his men for deployment
to the scene. He said his men arrived the scene between 8.30 a.m and 9a.m.
He
pointed to the intensity of the fire as a major constraint to the rescue efforts.
“It is the responsibility of the fire brigade to put off the fire, then
we have to move in to evacuate the dead,” he said.
FRSC unit Commander,
Ikeja, A.A. Ezirike, said some bodies were already burnt beyond recognition while
others had first and second degree burn. He said the first line of action they
took was to take the victims to the nearest hospital, the General Hospital at
Oke-Odo.
Reacting to the incident, the state Commissioner of Police, Emmanuel
Adebayo, who came for an on-the –spot assessment, said he had earlier dispatched
some policemen to the place to disperse the people scooping fuel but they remained
adamant.
“We always warn them of the danger in their action before tragedies
like this. It is just that people don’t listen to us,” he said. He
added that 500 policemen had been posted to the scene of the inferno to maintain
security.
Meanwhile, residents of Abule-Egba and environs are fleeing
the area in their hundreds, while vehicular movement along the Lagos-Abeokuta
expressway was disrupted.
The Group Managing Director, the NNPC, Funsho Kukpolokun,
who arrived the scene at about 1p.m, admitted that NNPC had received complaints
from the area but added that it was not the duty of NNPC to protect pipelines.
Saying that it was the duty of the police to protect pipeline, he said that the
police were obviously overwhelmed by other security issues. He insisted that pipeline
protection should be a collective effort by all Nigerians.
Executive chairman,
Ojokoro Local Council Development Area, Hon Morufdeen Adeola Adefolabi, denied
allegations that the council was aware of illegal scooping of fuel from pipelines
in the area. He said that people died because they refused to heed advise to stay
away from the area.
The council boss explained that before the fire broke
out, he, in conjunction with a team of policemen, tried to persuade people from
going near the burst pipeline, adding that rather than obey the order, people
eager to scoop petrol turned violent against him and the police. He told Daily
Sun that efforts were being made to arrange a mass burial for the victims who
died.
Speaking on the fuel fire, Lagos State governor, Senator Bola Tinubu,
who visited the site, said it was shameful that the tragedy recurred. He accused
the NNPC and the Federal Government of not living up to their responsibilities
by failing to provide adequate security for petroleum pipelines in the country.
On his part, President Olusegun Obasanjo expressed sadness over the fuel fire.
He has advised Nigerians against vandalisation of oil pipelines and urged them
to report to constituted authorities suspicious movements around oil pipelines
and installations. • See
more pictures on page 38 |
