At least 50 Nigerian villagers burned to death yesterday when petrol gushing from a vandalised pipeline caught fire as they collected it in buckets and tins.
The petrol caught fire at about 3 a.m. near a village called Umuichiechi-Umungbede, in the south-east state of Abia. More than 700 people died in a similar blaze in 1998 during a scramble for spilled petrol in the Niger Delta village of Jesse.
Although Nigeria is Africa's top crude oil producer it suffers chronic petrol shortages. It is common for local people to rupture a pipeline and collect fuel.