NIGERIA: At least 260 people were killed when a petrol pipeline ruptured by thieves burst into flames as people collected the fuel.

Thousands of residents of the impoverished Abule Egba, in Lagos, surged towards rescue workers carrying away charred bodies, hoping to find missing family members.

Residents said yesterday that thieves had been illegally taking fuel from the tankers for months, a common practice in Nigeria.

But they had not sealed the conduit as they left and residents collected the spurting petrol. It was unclear what ignited it.

"There were mothers there, little children," said Emmanuel Unokhua, an engineer who lives near the site of the blast. "I was begging them to go back."

Nigerian Red Cross workers had taken 60 injured people to hospital. An official said: "We are still counting but there won't be hundreds more.