Explosion in Nigeria: at least 200 people killed

 The Red Cross said the pipeline blew up while thieves were drilling into it, igniting about 500 jerrycans of fuel. Theft of petrol or crude oil from pipelines is common in Nigeria.

Photo: Explosion in Nigeria: at least 200 people killed

"You can see the corpses. Some are burnt to ash. Others are remnants. ... We estimate 150 to 200 people died," Lagos State Police Commissioner Emmanuel Adebayo said at the scene.

Only calcinated skulls and bones were left of five people who were closest to the pipeline, Reuters reports.

 About 50 blackened, unrecognisable corpses were huddled a short distance from the pipeline, which had been dug out of the sand and bore visible marks of drilling in several places. Some bodies, charred and bloated, floated in the waters of the creek, the AP reports.

The pipeline, which belongs to state company Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), runs just under the surface of Inagbe Beach, a stretch of golden sand on one of many islands that dot the Atlantic coast around Lagos.