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UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

NIGERIA: Explosion kills at least 40 in Lagos

LAGOS, 3 February 2003 (IRIN) - At least 40 people were killed and more than 100 injured in a blast on Sunday in Nigeria's economic capital, Lagos, officials and rescue workers said.

The huge explosion levelled a three-storey building occupied by a bank - on the ground floor - and residential apartments near the city's central business disctrict. The blast also ripped through three nearby buildings.

Lagos state governor Bola Tinubu told reporters there were "over 30 bodies in the mortuary and there could still be many more dead in the debris" of the collapsed building. Nigerian Red Cross officials said more than 100 injured people were sent to hospital on Sunday. At the Lagos State General Hospital, officials said later that 10 of those admitted with injuries had died.

"Between 500 and 1,000 people have been displaced and we've just started their registration," Emmanuel Ijewere, president of the Red Cross, told IRIN.

The police authorities said they were investigating the cause of the explosion, which was still unknown. "It is only experts that can say the type of explosion it is," Lagos police spokesman Emmanuel Ighodalo said.

After the blast, gangs of looters fought each other for bundles of cash from the destroyed bank that they found among the debris of the building. Anti-riot policemen battled for hours to bring the chaotic situation under control.

President Olusegun Obasanjo visited the scene of the disaster on Sunday in the company of Governor Tinubu to sympathise with victims, some of whom were evacuating their belongings while others were searching for still missing relatives. The president made no comment to reporters.

Tinubu said he had ordered a judicial investigation into the explosion. He also ordered free medical treatment for those injured.

Rescue work was suspended at nightfall but resumed on Monday morning. Firefighters spearheading the search for victims said they needed additional specialised equipment to help lift the concrete slabs believed to have trapped many of the victims.

Almost a year ago, Lagos was rocked by a series of explosions when a munitions dump in the main military barracks in the city caught fire. About 1,000 people died in that disaster.

Themes: (IRIN) Natural Disasters

[ENDS]

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