More than 1,000 dead in ammo dump disaster

More than 1,000 people have so far been confirmed dead as a result of massive explosions that followed a fire at an ammunitions dump in Nigeria’s biggest city, Lagos, officials said.

Lagos State Commissioner for Home Affairs Musiliu Obanikoro, told a local radio station, Rythm FM, on Saturday that the dead included people killed when the explosions began on 27 January and those who died in a subsequent stampede. Most of the dead drowned while attempting to cross a drainage canal to safety in the Oshodi-Isolo district of the city.

"As more bodies have been found over the last few days, the toll is now over 1,000, mostly children," Obanikoro said.

Meanwhile, local and international aid workers have continued relief efforts, providing treatment for the wounded and food and non-food assistance for more than 15,000 displaced people. Most of the displaced are residents of the Ikeja Military Cantonment, where the munitions depot was located, and surrounding residential areas.

However, the relief efforts suffered a setback on Friday night when a Red Cross warehouse went up in flames. Medical supplies and equipment worth about US $400,000 were destroyed, Abiodun Orebiyi, secretary-general of the Nigerian Red Cross, said. He said the organisation has been able to continue relief services using stocks in other warehouses.

US and British bomb experts were reported to have arrived in Nigeria to help defuse scores of live ordnance dispersed over the city by the explosions. A statement from the army public relations department advised Lagos residents not to panic if they heard the detonations expected when the bomb experts got underway.