At least 80 people have been killed in an explosion at an illegal oil refinery in southern Nigeria.
"We recovered at least 80 badly burned bodies at the scene," Ifeanyi Nnaji from the Civil Protection Agency told AFP on Sunday.
The number of victims could still increase.
Local media had previously reported more than a hundred deaths from the blast.
According to police, the explosion occurred late Friday evening in an illegal oil refinery on the border between the states of Rivers and Imo.
At the time of the detonation, the refinery operator and customers had gathered for a deal.
The organization Youths and Environmental Advocacy Center (YEAC) spoke on Saturday of "several bodies burned beyond recognition".
Illegal refining of crude oil is widespread in southern Nigeria.
Oil thieves regularly tap pipelines there to steal crude oil, which they then refine and sell on the black market.
In the past there have always been accidents with numerous fatalities.
The Nigerian government also uses the military to track down and destroy illegal refineries in the Niger Delta.
Most people in the region live in poverty, even though the country is the continent's largest oil producer, producing around two million barrels a day.