On 15 May 2008 a pipeline explosion occurred in the community of

Ijegun The village of Ijegun is a northern suburban community in Alimosho Local Government Area of Lagos State, Nigeria.The area is home to oil tank farms. History On May 15, 2008, Ijegun was devastated by a 2008 Ijegun pipeline explosion, massive explo ...

, a suburb north of

Lagos Lagos ( ; ), or Lagos City, is a large metropolitan city in southwestern Nigeria. With an upper population estimated above 21 million dwellers, it is the largest city in Nigeria, the most populous urban area on the African continent, and on ...

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

. The explosion took place after a bulldozer struck an

oil pipeline A pipeline is a system of pipes for long-distance transportation of a liquid or gas, typically to a market area for consumption. The latest data from 2014 gives a total of slightly less than of pipeline in 120 countries around the world. The Un ...

. The Lagos police have stated that the explosion appears to be an accident, and not the work of thieves, as in past pipeline explosions near

. Construction workers accidentally broke an underground pipeline from which fuel started to spill out; moments later an explosion occurred. The fire started from the Isolo end of Ijegun, which spread to surrounding homes and schools. It reportedly spread through buildings with occupants inside. The Ijegun Primary School was also damaged. More than 15 homes and more than 20 vehicles were burned in the fire.

Firefighters A firefighter (or fire fighter or fireman) is a first responder trained in specific emergency response such as firefighting, primarily to control and extinguish fires and respond to emergencies such as hazardous material incidents, medical in ...

and volunteers used sand and water in attempts to extinguish the fires. Forty minutes after the fire started,

NNPC The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited is a state-owned oil company in Nigeria. Still a fully-owned government company, it was transformed from a corporation into a limited liability company in July 2022. NNPC Limited is the o ...

(Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation) firefighters arrived on the scene. The Lagos State Fire Service later arrived.

Deaths

Although the Nigerian Emergency Management Agency initially said 10 people were killed, the

Nigerian Red Cross The Nigerian Red Cross Society (NRCS) was founded in 1960, and it has its headquarters in Abuja. It has over 500,000 volunteers and 300 permanent employees. The Nigerian Red Cross Society was established by an Act of Parliament in 1960 and becam ...

claims at least 100 people have died. Other accounts state that the number dead is 39, including school children.

AllAfrica.com ''allAfrica'' is a website that aggregates and produces news primarily on the African continent about all areas of African life, politics, issues and culture. It is owned by AllAfrica Global Media, a multi-media content service provider and the l ...

reports that the death toll is up to 43. The bodies were taken to the Ikeja General Hospital. A pregnant woman and her 4-year-old son were also among the dead. The

compiled names of the deceased and injured. They set up camps near the disaster as well. Local council and government officials claim that the actual death toll is much lower than what the

is claiming. Victims were taken to a hospital and are said to have been suffering from serious burns. It's believed that when the explosion occurred, gate men at the Ijegun Primary School initially locked the gates apparently to prevent the pupils from running into danger. But when the atmosphere became tense, the gate men and other staff were said to have run for their lives leaving everyone to their fate. At that point, students from Ijegun Comprehensive School who ran into the primary school premises were said to have jointly brought down the wall of the school to facilitate their escape. Most of them were trampled on. Eight out of sixteen pupils who were rushed to Corner Stone Hospital reportedly died on 15 May and another died a day later. Three residents were killed after being run over by vehicles whose drivers attempted to flee the fire zone.

References

External links

*http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2004418253_nigeria16.html
The Times
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ijegun Pipeline Explosion Explosions in 2008 Ijegun Pipeline Explosion, 2008 Ijegun Pipeline Explosion, 2008 Explosions in Nigeria Pipeline accidents 2000s in Lagos State May 2008 in Nigeria Disasters in Lagos State

Deaths

See also

References

External links