Nigerian oil product pipeline fire kills around 100 people: NNPC

Lagos (Platts)--12May2006

Around 100 people were burnt to death Friday when an oil product pipeline
caught fire in Lagos, Nigeria's commercial capital, witnesses and officials
from state oil company NNPC said.

The pipeline distributes gasoline from Nigeria's biggest jetty, known as
Atlas Cove, to the inland depots.

"The pipeline caught fire early today while hundreds of villagers had
gone there to scoop fuel from a leaking point in Lado Village near the Snake
Island. At least 100 people died from the inferno," said one eyewitness.

"The pipeline had earlier been vandalised by unknown persons while the
villagers had helped themselves to free fuel gushing out of the leaking
point," said the witness.

The pipeline belongs to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corp. A spokesman
for the company confirmed the incident, saying that a team of engineers had
been dispatched to the site to assess the damage.

"Our engineers have already clamped the punctured line to stop the
gasoline leaking," he said.

At least 60 people were killed from a similar pipeline fire at the same
spot in late 2000.

Lagos has been suffering gasoline shortages in the last three days, which
NNPC has attributed to disruption in fuel distribution following arson attacks
on its facilities.

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