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LAGOS - Nigerians traded recriminations today over who was to blame for the deaths of hundreds of people burned alive in a fuel explosion in the heart of Lagos, the country's teeming economic capital.
Many at the scene of the disaster blamed the government for allowing poverty to reach such depths in Africa's top oil producing nation that ordinary people were ready to risk their lives for a bucket of petrol.
The Red Cross estimated that 269 people died in a massive explosion on Tuesday morning when residents of Abule Egba used plastic pots to scoop up fuel from an underground pipeline which had been broken open earlier by a criminal gang.
"It must be poverty that has driven people to this, otherwise no sensible person would do it. I blame the government because they have not lived up to the expectations of the masses," said Adams Ahmed, a 28-year-old unemployed man standing amid the scorched remains of barely recognisable body parts, cars and market stalls.
Long queues have formed at most filling stations across Nigeria over the past few weeks, spawning a vigorous trade in black market fuel sold in jerry cans at the road side.
"You can say fuel scarcity caused this. Or poverty," said Folasade Olapade, an environmental officer helping to clear the human and other debris from the market square the size of a soccer pitch where everything was burned to a cinder.
By Wednesday morning, almost all the human remains had been removed for mass burial, but the stench of burned wood, roasted flesh and petrol lingered in the air.
Police chief Sunday Ehindero arrived at the blast site on Wednesday. He blamed vandals for the tragedy and called on Nigerians to change their attitude towards criminals.
Local media said police were alerted to the fuel spill before the explosion, but were chased away by the crowds seeking their share of the "Christmas bonus".
"Law enforcement is an art. It's not every time you rugby-tackle people," Ehindero said when asked why the police had not stopped the frenzied crowds.
President Olusegun Obasanjo said in a statement that he was particularly distraught at the unnecessary loss of life despite repeated warnings by the government on the dangers of tampering with pipelines.
It was the second such explosion in Lagos this year, after about 200 died in a similar explosion in May.
Stallholder Iluyemi Idowu, who lost his plastic recycling workshop in Tuesday's blast, said both police and the national oil company had been informed about the problem three weeks before the tragedy.
The gang that broke open the pipe in the early hours of Boxing Day had dug down to the pipeline three weeks earlier and covered the hole with sawdust, he said.
Officials from the Nigeria National Petroleum Corp (NNPC) had advised stall holders to put a gate at either end of the square to stop the thieves returning.
"You can't blame those who took fuel. I blame NNPC who was informed and did nothing about it," Idowu said.
NNPC said it was the police's job to secure pipelines around the country.
Pope Benedict XVI sent a condolence message through the Vatican expressing sadness at the explosion and assurances of his solidarity and concern.
- REUTERS
