LAGOS, Nigeria — More than 100 people were feared dead Thursday after a construction vehicle struck an oil pipeline on the outskirts of Lagos, Nigeria’s biggest city, setting off an oil-fed inferno that spread to surrounding homes and a school.
There were vastly differing accounts of the toll. Nigerian Red Cross officials said at least 100 people died, but a representative of the Nigerian Emergency Management Agency said that only 10 died, including a 2-year-old, and that 36 were injured.
Attacks on oil pipelines are common, particularly in Nigeria’s troubled, oil-rich southeastern Delta region. So are fires related to pipeline leaks — some caused by poverty-stricken people trying to siphon oil to resell on the black market.
Lagos police said the Thursday fire appeared to be an accident. A road grader struck the pipeline, officials said, sending oil gushing onto the vehicle. A spark ignited the blaze.
