Plumes of smoke billowed into the air as people watched, while firefighters tried to quench the flames, a Reuters witness said.
Farinloye told Reuters that “the explosion destroyed over 50 residential houses.”
Pipeline fires in Nigeria, Africa's biggest crude oil producer, are common and they are mostly caused by theft and sabotage. The methods used to steal oil often result in accidents that cause fires.
“The fire started with smoke,” one eyewitness said. “The smoke was coming up and later we heard a sound ... and some houses collapsed even the roofs.”
NNPC said that the temporary shutdown of the petroleum products pipeline would not affect the normal supply of products to the Lagos and surrounding towns.