09/11/2000 16:39 - (SA) New pipeline blast horror

Lagos - An unspecified number of people were killed and 20 houses razed when an oil pipeline exploded this week in the southern Nigerian state of Delta, press reports said on Thursday.

The incident occurred on Tuesday night at Elume, near oil-rich Warri city, following the vandalisation of the pipeline by unknown persons, the state-run Daily Times newspaper reported.

People were scooping fuel from the fractured pipeline when suddenly it exploded, killing an unspecified number of them and razing over 20 houses, the paper said.

A major bridge linking the area to other parts of the country was destroyed by the fire, which also damaged a power facility, cutting off electricity supply to the district.

Fire fighters were still battling late on Wednesday to put out the inferno, the Daily Times said.

Officials of the state-run oil company NNPC, owners of the pipeline, were not immediately available on Thursday to comment on the incident.

Pipeline fires have killed hundreds of people in the past two years in Nigeria.

In 1998, over 700 people were killed at Jesse, also in Delta State, while scavenging for fuel and more than 300 people died in July following a similar incident. - Sapa-AFP

http://news.24.com/News24/Africa/West_Africa/0,1113,2-11-998_937899,00.html

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), November 12, 2000