105 Nigerians Killed in Pipeline Blast

AP ^ | June 21, 2003 | Unknown

[Normal4me]

LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) -- More than 100 villagers scavenging gasoline from a vandalized pipeline were killed when the gushing fuel exploded in rural southeastern Nigeria, Red Cross officials and witnesses said Saturday.

[Normal4me]

It was not immediately clear what touched off the blast late Thursday on an excavated length of pipe 30 miles north of the city of Umuahia. The national ThisDay newspaper cited witnesses as saying it may have been caused by a spark from a motorcycle used by one of the victims.

Emmanuel Ijewere, president of the Nigerian Red Cross, confirmed 105 people were killed and said more deaths were likely as rescue crews continued to collect bodies and interview survivors, including an unknown number of wounded languishing in homes and hospitals with "third degree burns."

ThisDay put the casualties at about 100.

Ndu Ughamadu, spokesman of the state-owned Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation confirmed the pipeline had been ruptured by "vandals," adding it was still unclear how many people had been killed.

Witnesses speaking on condition of anonymity said villagers had been scooping fuel from the pipeline for six weeks since it was first ruptured in early May. The residents said authorities had continued to pump fuel through the line despite being informed of the breakage.

A team of emergency officials and engineers were on the scene to determine how best to extinguish the blaze, which was apparently still burning late Friday, Ughamadu said.

The pipeline was carrying fuel from a state-owned refinery in the oil city of Port Harcourt to the city of Enugu, 140 miles to the north.

Word of the disaster emerged slowly because many survivors apparently feared prosecution for theft and sabotage, Ijewere said.

ThisDay cited witnesses as saying police colluded with the vandals by charging villagers fees of around 80 cents for scooping up buckets and barrels of fuel for resale.

A police officer reached by telephone at the state command in Umuahia declined comment.

Pipeline vandalism, known as "bunkering" or "scooping," is common in Nigeria despite the risk of a deadly fire or punishment including prosecution or being shot on sight by security forces.

Thousands have been killed in explosions in recent years, including more than 1,000 in a 1998 blast in the Niger Delta town Jesse. Since then, the government has tried to educate villagers about the danger of scavenging pipeline fuel.

But poverty and residents' anger at the government and oil industry for allegedly polluting the environment and financially neglecting the oil-rich Delta have kept the illegal practice alive.

Nigeria is Africa's largest petroleum exporter and the fifth largest source of U.S. oil imports.

[gcruse]

Whaddya do? The populace is too primitive to work usefully. The state owns the major resource and keeps the income from it. It's like jumping from jungle tribes to a nation state without developing a middle class first. It's a recipe for corruption, dictatorship, and disaster, not to mention a vacuum for foreign aid to feed the people. Colonialism got a bad rap.

[Starrgaizr]

Pipeline vandalism, known as "bunkering" or "scooping," is common in Nigeria despite the risk of a deadly fire or punishment including prosecution or being shot on sight by security forces.

Thousands have been killed in explosions in recent years, including more than 1,000 in a 1998 blast in the Niger Delta town Jesse.

This deserves some sort of national Darwin award.