Nigeria Orders More Security for Pipelines

ILADO, Nigeria — President Olusegun Obasanjo ordered stepped-up protection for pipelines after a gasoline blast killed as many as 200 people, but some in Nigeria said Saturday that impoverished villagers would keep tapping the pipes to pilfer fuel.

Rescue workers tried to finish collecting the dead for burial in mass graves by sundown. But at least 22 charred bodies floated in the tidal mangrove swamps east of the main city of Lagos -- miles from the site of Friday’s disaster in Ilado village.

Obasanjo, who was on a state visit to Indonesia, also ordered an investigation into the cause of the inferno, Radio Nigeria reported.

Militants have stepped up attacks on petroleum-industry infrastructure, cutting production by a quarter and helping send crude prices soaring.

Police said there was no sign that the fire at a ruptured pipeline was sabotage and they assumed villagers had punctured it to steal fuel.

Boat driver Hakim Bolaji said, “This has been going on for a long time.... People are making so much money from selling stolen petrol that I’m sure they’ll come back.”