2007 Photo Contest, Spot News, 1st prize
Photographer

Akintunde Akinleye

Reuters

26 December, 2006

A man rinses soot from his face at the scene of a petrol pipeline explosion. At least 260 people were killed after a punctured pipeline caught fire. Thieves had tapped it to fill tankers with petrol for resale, and hundreds of people had gone to the scene to scoop up leaking fuel in plastic containers. Pipeline vandalism and fuel theft are common in Nigeria, the world's eighth largest exporter of oil, where most people live in poverty.

About the photographer

Akintunde Akinleye

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