Nigerian fuel tanker blast has roasted at least 30 people

PORT HARCOURT, Nigeria - At least 30 people were killed and shops and vehicles destroyed Saturday when a fuel tanker exploded in Port Harcourt, the hub of Nigeria's multi-billion-dollar oil industry and a target of attacks by militants.

"The incident happened at Eleme junction in the city. The details are
still sketchy," Rivers state police spokeswoman Ireju Barasua told AFP.

Residents said no fewer than 30 people burned to death while many
others were injured when the tanker exploded near a busy bus station
and burst into flames.

An AFP reporter at the scene said the tanker was carrying stolen petrol
and the driver was trying to escape chasing police when the vehicle
overturned.

He said that in a bid to escape arrest, the driver had hit a barricade
mounted on a section of road under construction in the Eleme district.

He said many people were injured while 13 vehicles, including 10 buses,
and several shops located around the popular bus station were destroyed
in the inferno.

The police could not immediately confirm if any arrests were made, but
residents said the driver of the tanker was among those injured and
receiving treatment for burns in a nearby hospital.

It was the second such incident this month in Port Harcourt.

On January 1 a petrol tanker overturned and burst into flames in the
city, destroying dozens of houses and small shops, but residents said
no one was killed in that incident.

In March last year at least 93 people were killed when an upturned road
tanker burst into flames as it was being looted in northern Nigeria's
Kaduna State

Theft of precious petrol from pipelines and road tankers, as well as wholesale smuggling, is rife in Nigeria, compounded in the oil-rich Niger Delta region by separatist violence.

Saturday's incident happened a day after the most prominent militant
group in the restive region claimed responsibility for an explosion
aboard an oil tanker berthed at city's seaport.

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) said in a statement that its fighters had detonated "a remote explosive device" that sparked the blaze on the vessel.

MEND shot to prominence early last year with a string of kidnappings of
foreign oil workers as well as attacks on oil company property.

The group says that contrary to criminal gangs operating in the Niger Delta, it is working to improve the lot of the ordinary people.

MEND also claimed responsibility on Thursday for an attack on four
ships in the Bonny Channel, Nigeria's largest oil and gas export
terminal, which left two people injured.

MEND warned of more attacks, telling civilians in the area not to
congregate around military checkpoints or their vehicles and those
living under the flight paths of military helicopters to be vigilant.

It also advised foreigners to leave the Niger Delta for their own safety.

Instability and violence slashed by a quarter oil output in Nigeria,
the world's eighth-largest crude exporter, in 2006 and 2007, to 2.1
million barrels per day, according to the latest estimates.

In 2007, more than 200 foreign workers were taken hostage,
often being released after a ransom was paid, but oil firms rarely
admit publicly to making such payments.

Major oil firms have scaled down their operations in the Niger Delta because of the violence.