Explosion destroys bank in crowded Nigerian capital

LAGOS, Nigeria -- A powerful explosion tore apart a bank and dozens of apartments above it Sunday in Nigeria's crowded commercial capital, killing at least 40 people and trapping many others, relief workers said.

Police were investigating a range of motives -- including that the blast was part of a bank robbery plot. Looting and bloody fights broke out as hundreds of young men grabbed fistfuls of cash from the leveled bank and battled over them.

In the chaos, trapped victims cried for rescue and onlookers wailed as rescuers retrieved bloody, broken bodies.

The Red Cross said searchers had recovered more than 30 dead and 32 injured. Ten of the wounded died later at Lagos General Hospital, hospital workers said.

Many more victims were believed caught in the rubble, and the death toll could rise, said Emmanuel Ijewere, president of the Nigeria Red Cross.

The blast occurred about 12:30 p.m. on Lagos Island, a crowded high-rise district of banks and other businesses packed side-by-side with poor, densely populated residential blocks.

The four-story bank building collapsed, bringing three floors of apartments crashing down on the ground floor Prudent Bank. Fires flared briefly after the blast, which could be heard for miles and sent a tower of smoke into the sky.

Two adjoining buildings were heavily damaged, and buildings for blocks around had shattered windows and other marks of the explosion.

Residents said some victims had been blocks away from the bank building.

"My uncle was in the balcony of our house talking with a friend and the force of the explosion threw them down," resident Remi Oyebanji said. "They're both dead."

An Associated Press reporter saw 10 crushed bodies.

One covered corpse appeared to be that of a child.

Resident Omololu Kassim, who was helping carry the victims, said he saw 40 dead and as many injured. Local radio put the toll at 50 or more. The blast came as many were at church, preventing an even higher death toll.

Hundreds of police surrounded the damaged neighborhood, dispersing the looters and forcing back thousands of onlookers. Cranes and other heavy equipment moved in to lift up the heavy concrete slabs and other debris.

Ambulance drivers fought to navigate narrow streets and push through the throngs to get to victims.

Survivors bundled together what possessions they could and set off in search of safe housing.

"My husband is dead," one middle-aged woman cried, carrying a bundle on her head and dragging a little boy behind.

Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo flew in from the capital of Abuja to visit the blast site. Obasanjo, accompanied by Lagos state Gov. Bola Tinubu, had no comment.

Tinubu said his government will begin a judicial investigation into the blast and he promised free medical treatment for the injured.

Lagos Island is one of two islands that, with the mainland, make up this city of 12 million. Congestion on the island has sent many businesses moving to other parts of Lagos in recent years.

Nigeria is Africa's most populous nation, with 120 million people, and urban crowding contributes to high death tolls in disasters and other tragedies.

On Jan. 27, 2002, a series of explosions at an army munitions depot in Lagos killed more than 1,000 people. Hundreds of them drowned after jumping in a canal to escape the blast.