Death Toll Climbs to 500 in Pipeline Blast

An inferno that engulfed hundreds of people scavenging for gasoline from a ruptured pipeline in southern Nigeria killed at least 500 people, doubling an earlier estimate, witnesses and medical sources said. Officials said victims had been collecting fuel from the pipeline for resale on the black market for three days before a spark ignited the spillage Sunday in the town of Jesse, 180 miles southeast of Lagos, the commercial capital. The officials blamed the spill on sabotage by thieves or dissidents. Flames still flared as firefighters let the last of the gasoline burn away.