The owners of two houses in Lagos, South-West Nigeria, brought down by a powerful explosion this morning are now counting their losses.

There had been panic as a result of the explosion, with people scampering for safety, afraid that it might have been caused by a bomb.

However, the explosion was caused by banger (otherwise known as ‘knockout’), says the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA).

In an update minutes ago on the agency’s Facebook page, Mr. Yushau Shuaib, NEMA Head of Media and Publicity, said the agency “has mobilised response agencies and volunteers to an explosion in a building suspected to be loaded with ‘knockouts’ in Jankara area of Lagos”

He lamented that “Search and Rescue officers of NEMA, are having a hectic time to reach the place due to traffic and crowds.”

Nigeria’s security agencies are yet to comment on the incident which took place in Lagos Island, a densely populated part of Nigeria’s economic capital, Lagos State.

News Express reports that banger is banned by the Nigeria Police which however does not do much to enforce the ban. The explosive device is freely imported into the country and the sound of exploding banger keeps people awake in most neighbourhoods during festive periods such as Christmas and New Year.

•Photo, courtesy NEMA, shows the burning houses.