Nigerians Hurt in Blast Urged to Return to Hospitals; 700 Dead

A bell-ringing town crier was sent to Jesse on Wednesday to call for the injured to return to hospitals, while state radio announced that the death toll from the fireball that tore through this southern Nigerian town had risen to 700.

“We cannot force them to stay in hospitals,” said the region’s nursing supervisor, D. Omamor. She said she knew of 10 patients who had gone home against their doctors’ advice, fearing that they would be arrested for gasoline theft if they stayed. She said she believed there were many more.

“They left on their own volition,” said Omamor, who ordered the bell ringer, a man who lives nearby, to head to Jesse.

Saturday’s explosion occurred while as many as 1,000 people--using buckets, pots, any receptacle they could get their hands on--were trying to scoop up gasoline pouring from holes in the pipeline.

Along with radio, the Nigerian newspaper Daily Express reported at least 700 deaths, about 200 more than the count the day before. The newspaper, based in the main city, Lagos, cited police who attributed the increase to the many injured who have since died.

The toll could reach 1,000, said J. I. Ogude, the village chief of Jesse, a scattered, dirt-poor town of about 12,000 people, most either cassava farmers or small traders.

Counting the dead as well as the injured remained a frustratingly difficult task. Some residents were said to be secretly burying their dead out of the same fear of prosecution that prompted many of those initially hospitalized to return to their mud shacks and concrete houses, where, without painkillers and medicine, their chances of recovery were slimmer.

“People are running away,” said Jacob Emogho, one of the few residents who would speak to a reporter Wednesday. “People are afraid to talk to any strangers.”

Authorities have not said whether they intend to press charges for the gasoline theft or the fire, but no arrests had been made as of Wednesday and none were immediately expected. While authorities have prosecuted some pipeline saboteurs in the past, the reactions in Jesse appeared to be rooted in a small-town fear of authority.

To overcome those fears, the town crier was to promise people they would not be prosecuted and would be treated free of charge.