The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) says over 50 buildings were destroyed in the explosion that rocked Abule Ado, near the Trade Fair Complex on the Lagos-Badagry highway.

Several families are also stranded as their homes were either razed by the inferno or were shattered by the explosion.  Some family members and others were seen rummaging through heaps of debris to rescue whatever is left of their property.

“I am stranded with my family. Where do we go, where do we sleep this night?” cried a man who sobbed and sobbed and was in no mood to disclose his identity.

Mr Ibrahim Farinloye, Acting Coordinator of the Lagos Territorial Office of NEMA, confirmed  that over 50 houses were affected in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos on Sunday.

Farinloye said that the cause of the incident and casualty figure were currently unknown as “rescue operations are still going on in the affected area’’.

He said the resulting fire, from the explosion, later spread to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) oil pipeline passing through the area, though the pipeline has been shut down as a precautionary measure.

According to him, a combined team of the Lagos State Fire Service, Federal Fire Service and the Nigerian Navy Fire Tender are currently battling to put out the inferno.

The explosion, which occurred about 9.00 a.m. on Sunday caused panic among Lagos residents after it shook many houses in Ijegun, Festac Town and other communities in the Amuwo Odofin Local Government Area up to Agege, near Lagos.