(21 Oct 1998) English/Nat
The death toll in the weekend fire that tore through Jesse in Nigeria has reached 700.
Police say about 200 people who were badly burned in the explosion have since died in hospital but it's feared the real toll is actually much higher.
Some people are worried they'll be arrested for petrol theft if they go to hospital - so they are dying of their horrific injuries in their homes.
Firemen have given up fighting the blaze.
They're waiting for the thousands of gallons of fuel to burn out in the Jesse section of the pipeline.
The entire pipeline runs for nearly 600 kilometres (380 miles), from the southeastern city of Warri to the northern city of Kano.
At least 400 people have been buried in mass graves near the scene of the explosion.
But some corpses remain - they'll be dealt with by environmental health officials who have arrived at Jesse.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
"Our mission is to recover the corpses we have lost as a result of the fire incident."
SUPERCAPTION: Taiwo Moses, Government Environmental Health Officer
But a lawyer for the victims' families says the government should have acted sooner.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
"Four days after, the fire is still on. Four days after corpses are still being burned. The government has not set up an inquiry to investigate what led to this fire, what led to the explosion that has consumed over 800 people, defenceless, poor people of the Nigeria delta who are sitting on this wealth. In other societies, there would have been a thorough investigation, but everybody has woken up and say - vandalism, sabotage. This is absolutely ridiculous."
SUPERCAPTION: Oronto Douglas, Victims' Families Lawyer
The death toll has now been put at more than 700 but it's probably much higher.
Some injured people are dying in their homes because they're too scared to go to hospital.
They're worried they'll be arrested for stealing petrol.
For those in care, treatment was hard to come by.
Hospitals are short of medicine and doctors.
Extra supplies are now beginning to arrive from the United Nation's children's organisation and Israeli doctors are also flying in to help.
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