LAGOS, March 15 (Xinhua) -- The Nigerian government on Sunday said 15 corpses have been recovered from the scene of Sunday's explosion which occurred at the Abule Ado area of Lagos, Nigeria's economic hub.
Ibrahim Farinloye, acting coordinator of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), who confirmed the figure to Xinhua, said the explosion occurred around 9 a.m. local time on Sunday. More than 60 students of Bethlehem Girls College located within the area who sustained various degrees of injuries in the incident were taken to the Nigerian Navy Hospital.
Farinloye said over 50 buildings, including Bethlehem Girls College and a popular hotel, were damaged in the explosion.
According to Farinloye, the resulting fire later spread to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) oil pipeline passing through the area, although the pipeline has been shut down as a precautionary measure.
Olufemi Oke-Osanyintolu, director-general of Lagos State Emergency Management Agency, said the government would carry out a thorough investigation to unravel the cause of the explosion.
"We are still waiting for the result to know the cause of the fire outbreak," Oke-Osanyintolu said.
