Ocean surge leaves one dead, 15 missing in Lagos

LAGOS (AFP) - An ocean surge crashed into waterfront shanties in Nigeria's economic capital of Lagos, leaving at least one person dead and 15 missing, officials said Sunday.

Rescue officials were evacuating the area and surveying residents, but had so far recovered one body and determined 15 people were unaccounted for from the incident on Saturday.

"About 30 shanty houses belonging to ... fishermen were affected by the surge," said Iyiola Akande of the National Emergency Management Agency.

"Fifteen people were missing, one body washed ashore and recovered. About 100 people displaced will be rehabilitated by government."

The community at Kuramo Beach in Lagos, a sprawling city of some 15 million people, includes a mixture of several hundred permanent and makeshift structures.

Officials have been seeking to clear illegal squatters from the beach.