Lagos explosion death toll hits at least 17

Huge plumes of dark smoke billows in the air at the site of a major explosion in Lagos Sunday as dead bodies were carried away.

A resident recounts the disturbing and tragic incident that killed at least 17 people.

“This morning I woke up, I was going to the gym when I heard an explosion. I ran out to my kids, to my family to check what was happening outside, unfortunately I saw scattered buildings and stuff like that, I wasn’t really sure what was happening. So I had to take my family to safety first, so I went out to see what was happening, to check out and what I saw was, was quite unbelievable’‘, an eyewitness, Olalekan Kolawole said.

According to the state-owned National Petroleum Corporation, the incident was caused by a truck that “hit gas cylinders stacked in a gas processing plant”.

The explosion occurred in the Amuwo Odofin area of Lagos, Nigeria.

Spokesman for the National Emergency Management Agency said 50 buildings were destroyed by either collapsing or catching fire in three different neighborhoods.

This was the most serious explosion in Lagos since January 2002, when bombs from a military armory exploded, killing more than 1,000 people.