A top management staff of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) said to be scooping fuel from the damaged pipeline in Abule Egba, Lagos State, was among the hundreds of people that died in Tuesday�s pipeline explosion, the Nigerian Tribune gathered. The death of the PHCN senior official came on the heels of reports that before the explosion, some oil thieves, backed by armed men, had besieged the place around 1.00 a.m. during which they loaded more than 15 trucks and left the vandalised pipeline open, leading to spillage into the community.
The PHCN chief, who hailed from Delta State, was said to have died while scooping fuel from the damaged pipeline. The man, who resided close to the spot of the damaged pipeline, was said to have earlier warned the community about the impending doom when he noticed the spillage. But he was said to have later joined the crowd to scoop fuel for his two cars. According to his neighbours, the man was reported to have successfully scooped fuel into two jerrycans and was on the third mission when he was caught up in the inferno.
His wife raised alarm when her husband had not returned home at nightfall, but nobody was ready to tell her that her husband had been at the scene scooping fuel. Meanwhile, most victims of the oil pipeline blaze received a mass burial early Wednesday a couple of kilometres away from the site of the fire, a Nigerian Red Cross official said. �Two hundred and thirty-eight bodies were buried overnight�, Ige Oladimeji of the Lagos State Red Cross said while talking to an international news agency on Wednesday afternoon, adding that a second mass burial would be organised for the remainder whose bodies were still in various hospitals and clinic morgues.
�The 238 were not buried in a cemetery but on land given by a local community,� Oladimeji said. Nigerian Red Cross Executive Secretary, Abiodun Orebiyi, said 269 people died in Tuesday�s fire and added that scores of others had been injured. �As of 6:00 pm yesterday (Wednesday) we counted one by one 269 bodies while 65 others were taken to hospital,� Orebiyi said. The overwhelming majority of those who died were charred beyond recognition. Health workers, in an attempt to avoid the spread of disease, started moving the dead from the site of the blaze on Tuesday evening, Red Cross officials said.
Orebiyi warned that the casualty figures could still rise. �The exact figure may not be completely known as some may still be in hiding and some others may die from their injuries,� he said. Meanwhile, residents of the area have begun to pack out for fear of the resurgence of the fire outbreak which some of them claimed has not been totally put out. The residents were seen on Wednesday afternoon moving their belongings out of the area they described as �vulnerable�.
Some of the residents who spoke to the Nigerian Tribune expressed fears that the oil thieves might return to the area. Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Edmund Daukoru, who on Wednesday afternoon visited the site of the incident, described the oil thieves as �greedy and unpatriotic�. The minister also commended the community for their efforts and urged them to support the various efforts of government at all levels to ensure that pipelines were well protected. He blamed the high casualty figures on the scarcity of petroleum products in the country.
The Inspector General of Police, Mr Sunday Ehindero, who also visited the venue of the incident, blamed it on the attitude of some Nigerians. In another development, one of the victims of the Lagos pipeline fire, Mr. Tunde Oladunjoye, 30, who was a carpenter, was at the sawmill to carry the planks he had bought the previous day when the explosion occurred. His mother, Mrs. Bolanle Oladunjoye, disclosed this to the Nigerian Tribune at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, Ikeja, Lagos, on Wednesday.
She said that sympathisers at the scene of the event brought Tunde home. According to her, Tunde had left his No. 31, Adeaga Street home to carry the planks, which he wanted to use to make some furniture for a customer when he was caught in the inferno. She said Tunde was severely burnt and that the family initially took him to LASUTH where he was referred to Isolo general hospital due to congestion at LASUTH. However, Tunde was later referred again to LASUTH for intensive care.
Mrs. Oladunjoye said that Tunde was a quiet young man who could never have participated in the scooping of fuel, which led to the incident. �Tunde is a quiet boy among my children. He has never involved himself in any nefarious activity and he is always found in his workshop at Adeaga Street. All the residents of the street can testify to this,� she said. Mrs. Oladunjoye, who was at the Burns and Emergency Response Unit of LASUTH when the Nigerian Tribune met her with Tunde�s siblings, said that Tunde�s customer had come Wednesday morning to ask for his furniture work but learnt that Tunde was involved in the accident.
The mother of another victim, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that she could not identify her son because he was badly burnt. According to her, her son was still in a critical condition when she got to LASUTH. However, she could not tell how her son got involved in the disaster. A brother of another victim told the Nigerian Tribune that Alimi, the victim, was going home when he got trapped in the fire. He said that his younger brother was always passing through Segun Akinnola Street, adjacent to the spot of the incident.
He stated that Alimi�s condition was improving and that the family was praying hard for the boy�s survival. Meanwhile a source said that eight of the victims rushed to LASUTH had died and their bodies had been deposited at the hospital�s mortuary. The United Nations has condemned the Nigerian government for its fuel supply management which it said led to yesterday�s pipeline explosion in Lagos, Empowered Newswire has reported.
A statement from the United Nations Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, called for a review of Nigeria�s fuel management supply �including a thorough regional review of risks that could lead to other environmental or technological disasters in West Africa.� The UN statement said the UN Secretary-General �is deeply saddened at the deaths of hundreds of people as a result of the explosion of a fuel pipeline in Abule Egba district of Lagos, Nigeria. �He extends his deepest condolences to the government, the bereaved families and to all others affected by this disaster.�
But in an apparent diplomatic knock, the UN statement added that �the theft of fuel from Nigerian pipelines has become a frequent occurrence, often with tragic consequences.� The UN also offered to help Nigeria in such an endeavour and also in the process of disaster response. According to the statement, �The United Nations stands ready to assist in this endeavour, and to help in assessing current gaps in risk mapping and disaster response in the region. �
All through Christmas/Boxing Day, TV stations in the US started ran reports on the explosion. AP reports quoted the Nigerian Red Cross of yet another pipeline explosion raising international concerns about the Nigerian government�s management of its petroleum resources.