People gather at the scene of a gas explosion near destroyed buildings in Lagos on March 15, 2020. (Photo by AFP)
An explosion at a gas processing plant on Sunday (March 15) killed at least 15 people and destroyed approximately 50 buildings after a fire broke out in a suburb of Lagos, Nigerias commercial capital, emergency services said.
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) said the explosion was triggered after a truck hit some gas cylinders stacked in a gas processing plant near the corporations pipeline in Abule Ado area of Lagos state.
Several people were injured and taken to hospital, according to Ibrahim Farinloye, zonal coordinator for the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA).
The impact of the explosion led to the collapse of nearby houses, damaged NNPCs pipeline and caused the corporation to halt pumping operations on the Atlas Cove-Mosimi pipeline, the state-owned oil company said in a statement.
NNPC said that the temporary shutdown of the petroleum products pipeline would not affect the normal supply of products to the Lagos and surrounding towns.
Pipeline fires in Nigeria, Africas biggest crude oil producer, are common and they are mostly caused by theft and sabotage. The methods used to steal oil often result in accidents that cause fires.
(Source: Reuters)
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