AT LEAST 150 PEOPLE WERE KILLED IN AN EXPLOSION AT A PETROLEUM PIPELINE, POLICE IN THE NIGERIAN CITY OF LAGOS CONFIRMED FRIDAY, DPA REPORTED. POLICE SAID THE EXPLOSION ORIGINATED FROM AN AREA WHERE THE THEFT OF PETROLEUM WAS TAKING PLACE. WITNESSES REPORTED THAT A HUGE COLUMN OF BLACK SMOKE WAS VISIBLE FROM THE AREA OF THE BLAST. THE COMMISSIONER OF POLICE IN LAGOS STATE, IMMANUEL ADEBAYO, TOLD DEUTSCHE PRESSE-AGENTUR DPA "WE HAVE COUNTED UP TO 150 BODIES." HOWEVER, AN OFFICIAL FROM THE STATE-RUN NIGERIAN NATIONAL PETROLEUM CORPORATION, KEHINDE OBATERU, TOLD DPA THAT "THERE CANNOT BE LESS THAN 300 DEAD." A SENIOR POLICE OFFICER AT THE SCENE, TOYE OLORI, SAID SOME OF THE VICTIMS WERE RESIDENTS OF THE AREA WHOSE HOUSES WERE RAZED, WHILE THE MAJORITY OF THOSE KILLED WERE INVOLVED IN THE THEFT. FUEL THIEVES DRILL HOLES IN THE PIPELINE NETWORK, OLORI SAID, ADDING THAT THE THIEVES HAD ALREADY FILLED MORE THAN 150 CANS OF 50 LITRES EACH OF PETROLEUM WHEN THE DISASTER STRUCK. OLORI SAID ARRANGEMENTS WERE BEING MADE BY THE LAGOS STATE GOVERNMENT AND THE POLICE TO EVACUATE THE CHARRED BODIES OF VICTIMS FROM THE SCENE. THE STEALING OF PETROLEUM HAS LED TO THE DEATH OF SEVERAL THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE SINCE 1999, WHEN THE CRIME BECAME MORE PRONOUNCED.
