LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) -- An oil pipeline exploded near Nigeria's largest city as thieves tried to siphon oil from it and at least 15 people died in the fire, police and witnesses said Friday.
``People were stealing fuel from the pipeline when it caught fire and exploded,'' said police spokesman Emmanuel Ighodalo of Thursday's blast in Amore, a village across a wide lagoon from Lagos, a city of 13 million people.
Large plumes of smoke could still be seen billowing from the village Friday, and Ighodalo said ``several'' people died in the fire, although officials could not provide an exact death toll.
One witness said he watched Thursday as residents removed bodies from the site of the blast. ``I saw some fishermen bring out a total of 15 bodies,'' said Ayewo Agbovia. ``The fishermen said there were likely to be more bodies.''
The cause of the explosion wasn't immediately known.
In the past, similar explosions occurred when villagers unwittingly ignited highly combustible petroleum as they collected it from ruptured pipelines. A 1998 pipeline blast killed over 1,000 in southern Nigeria.
Stealing valuable oil from pipelines is common in Nigeria, where most inhabitants are deeply impoverished despite living in Africa's largest petroleum exporter.
