Rescue workers on Monday pulled four more bodies from the wreckage of a massive weekend explosion that shook Nigeria’s biggest city, as the death toll climbed to 44, and authorities ruled out terrorism as the cause of the blast.
Dozens of workers piloted cranes and bulldozers in a fruitless search for survivors in the rubble of a four-story bank and apartment bloc, destroyed in Sunday’s explosion.
”We’re informed that many people are trapped in the collapsed building, but it’s unlikely there are any living people there,” said Emmanuel Ijewere, president of the Nigerian Red Cross. More than 60 people were still recuperating from the blast in Lagos medical facilities, Ijewere said.
Authorities were evacuating six buildings housing hundreds of people near the charred ruins to evaluate them for structural damage, said Lagos city representative Dele Alake. Three precariously leaning structures would be demolished, he added. The force of the detonation shattered windows for blocks around.
The cause of the explosion remained unclear. ”The preliminary investigation showed it was not an act of terrorism,” Lagos State Governor Bola Tinubu said.
Alake said investigators were considering various theories, including whether the building’s natural gas source had ignited, or if a cache of explosive material stored there had detonated accidentally.
Lagos Island, where the blast occurred, is one of two islands that with the mainland make up this city of 12-million people. Nigeria is Africa’s most populous nation, with 120-million residents. – Sapa-AP