Nine people were killed and three others remain in critical condition after a huge Christmas Eve blast at an industrial gas plant in southeast Nigeria, officials said Sunday.
A colossal inferno was triggered around noon on Thursday, engulfing the city of Nnewi in clouds of billowing black smoke and leaving some of the victims charred beyond recognition.
A 68-year-old woman died Saturday morning "due to excessive inhalation of toxic fumes, bringing the death total to nine," National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) spokesman James Eze told AFP.
Three other people, including a seven-month pregnant woman, remain in hospital receiving treatment.
Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari had said in a press statement Friday that "tens" of people had died in the catastrophic explosion, but presidency spokesman Garba Shehu could not confirm that number.
"I am not in a position to say," Shehu said to AFP.
Explosions are common in oil-rich Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation, where fuel is distributed with poorly maintained trucks on potholed roads.
Earlier in December, a tanker loaded with fuel exploded in a crowded Lagos neighborhood, setting off a fire that injured several residents and decimated nearby vehicles and houses.
