Up to 300 people were burned alive today when fuel from a vandalized pipeline exploded in Nigeria's largest city, Lagos, emergency workers said.
Hundreds of residents of the Abule Egba district went to scoop fuel using plastic containers after thieves punctured the pipeline overnight.
"We are talking hundreds (dead). We are yet to confirm the death toll so we don't know if it is 300, 400 or 500," Red Cross secretary-general Abiodun Orebiyi said, adding that 60 people had been evacuated to hospital with serious burns.
A Reuters witness saw hundreds of bodies, most burned beyond recognition, lying at the scene of the explosion as emergency workers tried to put out the fire.
A Red Cross volunteer at the scene said: "A lot of people have been roasted. They are littered on the ground."
A similar explosion in another part of Lagos in May killed about 200 people.