Nigerian police said on Thursday at least 26 people were killed when thieves set alight a fuel pipeline on Wednesday in the commercial capital Lagos, as authorities tried to arrest them for tapping into it.
The fire around the pipeline, which belongs to state energy company NNPC and passes through a riverside community in the Apapa district of Lagos, had already been put out by the fire services, police said.
NNPC officials said that disruption of petroleum supply had been minimal and repairs on the pipeline were due to end shortly.
“The explosion happened when the vandals set fire to the pipe in the early evening yesterday ... The latest is that we have recovered 26 bodies,” said police spokesman Emmanuel Ighodalo.
“It is not unlikely that many more were killed, as it is difficult to trace bodies in the water. There have been reports of men in uniform being killed, but I haven’t seen any myself yet,” he added.
Police said they were still carrying out further investigations after the area was cordoned off.
OPEC member Nigeria’s oil industry has suffered numerous problems with local gangs stealing crude oil and siphoning off refined petrol from pipelines.
In September an explosion in Lagos killed dozens of people.