WE PRAY: Dozens Reportedly Killed In Nigerian Gas Plant Explosion

Okechukwu said most of the casualties were motorcyclists and passersby who rushed to take a glance at the inferno before the explosion took place.

Red Cross spokesman Peter Kachi said: ‘The gas plant was completely destroyed and several houses around the scene damaged’.

A witness interviewed by Nigeria’s Vanguard newspaper said that the explosion happened when workers began discharging gas from the truck before the mandatory cooling time elapsed.

The blast occurred on Thursday (Friday NZT) when a truck was discharging butane gas at the facility in Nnewi town in Anambra state as a crowd of customers refilled gas bottles on Christmas Eve, residents said.

The fire is reported to have burned for hours.

“Two other bodies of a woman and her child were later found dead in an adjourning building. Some people suffered burns of various degrees”, said Anambra state governor, Willy Obiano, who visited the scene of the accident.

The gas-fuelled fire spread to a large surrounding area instantly, National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) spokesman James Eze told AFP. “I ran for my life and escaped with minor injury but my mother was not lucky”.

Most of the dead were customers at the plant or people who lived nearby, he added.

“The people were burnt beyond recognition”.

The naij.com Nigerian news site said the dead and badly burned victims were taken to Nnamdi Azikwe University Teaching Hospital.

Others say it was triggered when a leaking consignment of gas was being moved to the company dump.

Local reports, meanwhile, claim that more than 50 people have been killed, while police have only confirmed “a few”.