3:36pm UK, Friday May 16, 2008

At least 100 people were killed and scores injured when fuel from a pipeline ruptured by a bulldozer caught fire and exploded in a village, the Red Cross has said.

Fire crews tackle the huge blaze

The fireball engulfed homes and schools at Ijegun village near Nigeria's biggest city of Lagos.

Many of the dead, who included schoolchildren, were killed in the ensuing stampede as people fled in panic from the flames.

"About 100 people have so far been confirmed dead from the fire," said a Red Cross official.

"We have so far rescued more than 20 people with injuries and taken them to hospital for treatment."

The disaster was the latest in a series of pipeline explosions or blazes in the African country caused by damage or theft which have killed more than 1,200 people since 2000.

Nigeria is the world's eighth largest oil exporter and Africa's top producer.

The pipeline rupture at Ijegun, a village about 30 miles from the centre of the sprawling coastal city of Lagos, occurred during road-building work.

A bulldozer moving earth struck the pipeline buried beneath the surface.

"I was returning home when I suddenly saw sparks of fire from where the grader (earthmover) was working," local resident John Egbowon said.