Posted on 12/26/2006 1:30:34 PM PST by raygun
Edited on 12/26/2006 1:39:12 PM PST by Admin Moderator. [history]
LAGOS (Reuters) - Hundreds of people were burned alive on Tuesday when fuel spilling from a vandalized pipeline exploded in Nigeria's largest city, Lagos, emergency workers said.
Nigeria pipeline disaster slideshow
"The number of dead is confirmed at 269. We have retrieved all the bodies," said Abiodun Orebiyi, secretary-general of the Nigerian Red Cross. Another 160 people were taken to two hospitals in Lagos suffering from burns, another Red Cross official said.
Shortly after the blast, hundreds of bodies, most burned beyond recognition, were scattered on the ground next to a ramshackle car workshop and a saw mill in the densely populated Abule Egba district.
Some corpses lay rigid on the earth -- arms and legs thrust awkwardly in the air -- their clothes and skin burned off by the blast. Others were reduced to ash.
It took firefighters equipped with leaking water hoses about six hours to extinguish the flames as hundreds of people came to watch.
In the absence of an ambulance service, one group of volunteers loaded charred corpses into an estate car operated by the Lagos road safety authority.
Some women sat crying on a bench.
"One friend knocked on our door and told my husband they were taking fuel. My husband ran out with two buckets and now he has gone. This is a curse from God," said a woman who gave her name as Ole.
Yep, that must be it - God's fault - not your stupendously moronic husband's stupidity. Blame where blame is due, right?
Is it just me, or what?
and this is a fight over wages.....or is it the Sierra Club doing this?
When you haven't eaten a full meal for weeks, live on less than a dollar a day, and have absolutely no hope of advancing or bettering your condition, you might be surprised at the "stupid" risks you take for your family.
Thank God you're here to straighten me out in that regard.
Where where you on the James Kim threads? Not too many people were commenting in such a positive, understanding, epathetic and sympathetic fashion as you just did in your reply to me.
If I remember Nigerians often take fuel off of pipelines to use for cooking and heating.
My prayers for the families left behind.
As far as a fight over wages, that part I don't understand at all. How could that be? Don't their union stewards and collective bargaining agreements take care of that? What need would there be for "fighting" over wages? That just seems so absurd to be science-fiction.
What, the amount of food stamps they get isn't sufficient? Who's fault is that? They should be voting people into office that actually care about them into office.
And if the Nigerians have no hope of advancement, well then, GWB's feet definitely need to be held to the fire on this one, no? I didn't even know that his influence extended across the Atlantic Ocean. I thought that the sum total of the disenfranchised and downtrodden resultant to George Bush stealing the Presidency manifested itself in New Orleans and the Katrina debacle. You're telling me that his and the evil Carl Rove's influence extends all the way across the Atlantic into Nigeria?
Have you gotten on the horn to let the AFL/CIO about these people in Nigeria? Have you contacted your Cogressional representatives and/or Senators concerning this travesty?
Because jobs are flowing overseas akin to a waterfall carrying rats off of a sinking ship. The only conclusion is that somebody in this country isn't upholding the labor laws, or the unions aren't getting their fair shake, or corruption of high government officials.
Your assertion that these people are starving is just plain not possible. You're making stuff up. I believe that the Nigerians are just greedy.
Let me ask you a serious qwexion: what's the last thing made in America that you purchased?
Are you pro or anti union?
are you pro or anti government mandated employee safety laws...
Are you pro or anti minimum wage law?
Are you pro or anti 40 hour minimum workweek (+ overtime)
Should oil have a tariff applied if its too cheaply priced because of cheap labor?
Should tariffs be applied to any and all goods imported into the U.S.A. where either a labor union is prohibeted or a minimum wage is not law?
Do you believe that stealing bread or medicine is not a crime?
Do you personally benefit from labor unions?
Will you pay $25/gal gasoline?
Are you insane?
FOXNEWS: "AT LEAST 200 PEOPLE KILLED AFTER GASOLINE PIPELINE EXPLOSION IN NIGERIA, RED CROSS SAYS"
MSNBC: "At least 200 people were killed Tuesday when a pipeline carrying petroleum products exploded in Nigeria's biggest city of Lagos, a Red Cross official said. The death toll was expected to rise."
CNN: "Thieves trying to steal fuel from a pipeline outside Lagos, Nigeria, triggered an explosion and fire that killed at least 200 people, a Nigerian Red Cross spokesman told CNN."
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