LAGOS, Nigeria?Rescuers pulled scores of bodies from a canal Monday after a series of explosions at a munitions depot destroyed homes and businesses in Nigeria’s commercial capital, witnesses and rescue workers said.

Panicked residents ran and drove into the Oke Afa canal as they fled the blasts Sunday evening at the nearby Ikeja military base. They apparently didn’t realize how deep the water was and drowned, witnesses said.

Lagos State Police Commissioner Mike Okiro confirmed the events, but had no details on casualties. More than 200 bodies were pulled from the water, an independent radio station reported, though workers at the scene said the figure could be much higher. At least 35 corpses could be seen in the water, on the grass and in the backs of trucks being driven away.

An army spokesman said the explosions were apparently set off by a fire that spread to the depot, shortly before 6 p.m. Sunday.