Lagos survivors demand answers

LAGOS, Nigeria -- As the death toll from the Lagos armoury disaster mounts, CNN's Lagos Bureau Chief Jeff Koinange says the sense of shock among the survivors is turning to anger.

Q: It is now two days since the armoury at the Ikeja barracks caught fire and caused a series of devastating explosions that sent ordnance raining down on the city. What is the scene like now?

A: Well, the rescuers and search teams were out at daybreak looking for more bodies in the canals near to the armoury.

Once in a while one of them will come to the surface with a body which will be put on the bank and they will go off again.

Once several bodies have been piled up, they are put onto a truck and taken to a local morgue. More than one is being used because of the high death toll.

Q: What are the survivors doing?

A: Many are trying to find out what has happened to friends and relatives that are missing. There is no list of the missing yet so the full scale is not known. For that reason the search for bodies will continue, probably for days.

Another problem is that those who fled their homes are not confident to return because they fear that there could be more explosions -- that there are still unexploded bombs that may still go off.

Q: What is the mood like?

A: Everywhere there are people looking for relatives and loved ones. Many are weeping and wailing, but that sense of shock is turning into anger as people begin to demand to know how this could have happened.

Q: What do they want?

A: Well people are beginning to get really angry. The president (Olusegun Obasanjo) has called what has happened a "monumental tragedy" and is calling for relief to help those who have lost their homes and families.

But people want to know how such an old depot, like this armoury, could have been allowed to hold such powerful ordnance. Many say it was a disaster waiting to happen.