NIGERIA: Nigerian police were last night struggling to explain a massive explosion that ripped through downtown Lagos, destroying several buildings, killing at least 40 people and triggering a violent looting spree.
The powerful blast tore open a bank building and collapsed an adjoining four-storey apartment complex in the crowded central business district of Lagos Island.
Rescuers scrambled to find survivors inside the smoking wreckage amid scenes of chaotic confusion. Trapped victims shouted for help while the gathered crowd wailed as mutilated bodies were removed from the scene.
"My husband is dead," sobbed a middle-aged woman dragging a small boy behind her.
Early rescue efforts were hampered by crowds of looters searching through the debris for wads of banknotes scattered by the explosion. According to some reports, onlookers stoned the thieves before police arrived shooting in the air and shouting "Let us through to help our brothers!"
By early evening more than 30 corpses had been retrieved and 32 injured taken to hospital. Scores more were feared dead or injured, with one local radio station putting the death toll as high as 50.
"I believe a lot more people are still trapped," said a Red Cross official.
The explosion boomed across Lagos at about 12.30 p.m. local time yesterday, sending a tower of smoke into the air. It was unclear whether the blast originated in the bank or the four-storey apartment building.
"My uncle was in the balcony of our house talking with a friend and the force of the explosion threw them down," resident Remi Oyebanji told the Associated Press. "They're both dead."
Other residents were said to have escaped death because they were attending church at the time of the blast.
Lagos Island is one of two islands that make up Nigeria's commercial capital, an overcrowded city of 12 million people. Ambulance drivers fought to navigate its narrow streets and push through the throng to get to victims last night, as cranes and other equipment arrived to help shift the concrete debris.
Police could offer no definite explanation but said they were considering the possibility mooted by many residents - that the explosion was caused by a bomb as part of a failed bank heist.
"We don't know what happened... but our men are already investigating," spokesman Mr Emmanuel Ighodalo said.
The explosion is the latest in a series of disasters to befall Nigeria, Africa's most populous country. One year ago, a series of blasts in a Lagos munitions store resulted in the deaths of more than 1,000 people, many of whom drowned in a canal as they fled.
Before Christmas, northern Nigeria was rocked by violent riots sparked by Muslim anger at the Miss World beauty pageant, which was then moved to London.