A government spokesman says 20 people in southeast Nigeria died when a
broken gasoline pipeline caught fire, burning alive those gathering the
fuel.
The fire happened in a remote village in Abia state, near
Nigeria's oil-rich southern delta. Abia state government spokesman
Ugochukwu Emezue said Monday that the fire happened Sept. 23, but it
took days for the information to reach officials.
Pipeline
ruptures remain common in Nigeria, an oil-rich nation where militants
and criminals routinely tap into lines to steal crude oil and refined
gasoline. Fires can easily and accidentlally be sparked by those
attempting to gather the fuel.
In September, Nigeria's state-run
oil company said suspected thieves shot dead three of its workers in
southeast Ogun state after rupturing a gasoline pipeline to steal fuel.
