Nigeria: fuel pipeline explosion, 30 dead

At least 30 people were killed in a pipeline fire in Arepo village, Ogun state, Nigeria on January 12.

Local police representative Friday Ibadin said the explosion happened at around 2am and the 30 dead were suspected to be people who deliberately sabotaged the pipeline.

Fuel theft from pipelines is a common occurrence in Nigeria.
- Photo: AP

Police are now hunting for the surviving saboteurs, Ibadin said. One suspect arrested said he and about 50 others used a ferry to cross a creek to siphon fuel from a broken pipeline owned by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation.

Fuel theft from pipelines is common in Nigeria, which is Africa’s largest oil producer, but poor management and corruption in its refining sector have left the country chronically short of fuel, Xinhua said.

Nigeria has seen a series of pipeline explosions in recent years, each claiming at least a dozen lives. In 2006, nearly 300 people burned to death while trying to salvage fuel from a sabotaged pipeline in Lagos state, near Ogun state.

According to Tuoi Tre - DT