Several people were feared dead after an oil tanker exploded while discharging fuel at Nigeria’s main seaport in Lagos, a spokesperson said on Wednesday.
”It is still difficult to [tell] the exact number of dead, but there were indications that could have been several human and material casualties,” Christopher Borha, public relations manager of the Nigerian Ports Authority, told Agence France-Presse.
He said the oil tanker was discharging fuel at a private jetty at Apapa port when it suddenly developed an engine problem.
”The engineers tried to fix the fault and in the process the tanker exploded,” he said.
A combined team of ports firefighters and experts from the German construction firm Julius Berger succeeded in towing the vessel from the jetty, Borha added.
”We did this to prevent the fire from spreading to other fuel farms,” he said.
The Lagos port is Nigeria’s main seaport, handling dozens of passenger and cargo vessels daily. — Sapa-AFP