Lagos | Monday
MORE than 580 bodies were pulled from a Lagos canal early on Monday after a massive crowd stampeded as it fled a huge arms dump explosion in the city, said a distraught witness.
“I have counted more than 580 (bodies), 580, I am looking for my children. I have been here since the morning,” said Shola Odun, a printer.
“They have been pulling the bodies out of here since first thing. They are taking them away. I am looking for my children, my relatives, there are more than 580 bodies,” he said.
“One man here lost six of his children. He found them. He is dying,” Odun added.
One of Africa’s most densely inhabited city – home to more than 10 million people – was shaken repeatedly late Sunday by the massive explosions, set off by a fire at a military armoury.
A photographer at the scene said he had witnessed more than 140 bodies being pulled from the water in the canal in the Isolo district during the time he was at the site, close to the area where the arms explosion happened.
Earlier, another witness said he had seen 59 bodies pulled out of the canal at a place called Okiafa. It was not immediately clear if the 59 bodies were among the 580 counted at Isolo, a nearby district.
Lagos State Information Commissioner Dele Alake said that the state governor, Bola Tinubu, was due at the scene shortly.
“We have had the reports of the drowning. It seems there was a stampede last night. The governor is going to visit so until then we cannot confirm on numbers but we fear it was big,” Alake said. – AFP