A petrol tanker crashed, caught fire and exploded in Nigeria yesterday, killing more than 100 people who had rushed to the scene to scoop up fuel that had spilled.
At least 50 others were injured in the incident in the southern Niger Delta region.
Witnesses said some charred corpses were still lying in the area hours after the explosion, including bodies the size of children.
Shock: Rescue workers begin the grim task of clearing away dozens of bodies.
Alagoa Morris, coordinator at advocacy group Oil Watch Nigeria, said: ‘What did these small ones know about coming to scoop fuel?’
He said some women wailed at the scene of the explosion, desperately looking for their relatives.
The location of some of the bodies suggested that the victims were trying to run away when fire consumed them.
Mr Morris said: ‘How can people who have enough to eat scoop oil that belongs to someone else? It is poverty.’
Blown up motorbikes
Alagoa Morris, coordinator at advocacy group Oil Watch Nigeria, said: ‘What did these small ones know about coming to scoop fuel?’
He said some women wailed at the scene of the explosion, desperately looking for their relatives.
The location of some of the bodies suggested that the victims were trying to run away when fire consumed them.
Mr Morris said: ‘How can people who have enough to eat scoop oil that belongs to someone else? It is poverty.’
Despite decades as an oil producing region, the majority of those living in the Niger Delta remain desperately poor and mostly without access to proper medical care, education or work.
Anger over the situation on several occasions has driven young people to attack foreign oil firms based there and steal fuel from pipelines.
The crude that flows from the Niger Delta is the lifeblood of Nigeria’s economy. The OPEC member now pumps out about 2.4million barrels of oil a day, making it Africa’s biggest producer.
Production dropped drastically during the militant attacks that targeted pipelines and saw foreign workers kidnapped. A 2009 government-sponsored amnesty program saw many fighters lay down their arms and the violence largely stop.
The truck accident took place near the town of Okogbe, about 40miles from Port Harcourt city, Nigeria’s oil capital in the delta – a region of swamps, mangroves and creek.
A pipeline and a filling station were near the accident site, but neither was affected.
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