The death toll from Tuesday’s gas explosion on Aba Road in Kano State’s Sabon Gari district has risen to nine, according to emergency officials.
WITHIN NIGERIA reports that on Tuesday morning, a tremendous explosion shook the neighbourhood, leading many to believe it was a bomb blast. Blood was spotted, drenching schoolchildren.
Police have already verified the deaths of four persons.
However, the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) reported that the death toll had risen to nine.
Manzo Ezekiel, NEMA’s spokesperson, stated in a statement that nine dead have been recovered so far from the rubbles of a collapsed structure next to a primary school as a result of explosions from a gas cylinder along Aba Road in Kano’s Sabon Gari district.
“Director-General National Emergency Management Agency, Mustapha Habib Ahmed, was at the site of the incident and coordinated the rescue operations.
“He mobilised excavators being used for the rescue operations and said NEMA team will ensure complete removal of the rubbles to retrieve all trapped persons,” he said.
Ezekiel added that the DG instructed the NEMA rescue team to remain at the site until conclusion of the rescue and to work together with security agencies and other response organisations present at the location.
He said NEMA was presently coordinating the rescue operations involving members, Nigerian Red Cross, military, the Nigerian Police, Nigerian Security and Civil Defense Corps, Kano SEMA.