The death toll in Saturday’s tanker explosion in Niger State has risen from 85 which was recorded over the weekend to 98.
It was reported that the tanker explosion occurred around Dikko junction in Gurara Local Government Area.
The Niger State Emergency Management Agency (NSEMA) confirmed that 98 people died in the fire that emanated from the explosion.
Giving a breakdown of the deaths and the injured, the agency’s Director General, Abdullahi Baba Arah, said the death count as at 12 p.m yesterday stood at 98 while those injured were 69.
He said the fire razed 20 shops, destroying goods and properties worth millions of naira.
Also, 10 more patients who suffered severe burns have been confirmed dead.
Seven of the patients were said to have died at the General Hospital in Suleja while three others died at the General Hospital at Sabon-Wuse.
The Special Adviser to the Niger State Governor on Digital Communications, Abdulberqy Ebbo, announced this on his social media page.
According to him, at the General Hospital in Suleja, out of the 43 patients admitted there, seven have died, three were discharged to recuperate at homes, 10 others were referred for specialist care in Abuja, while the remaining 23 are still receiving treatments with varying degree of burns.
Ebbo said out of the 23 patients that were initially admitted at the General Hospital at Sabon-Wuse, three had died, relatives of 19 patients signed a consent form for them to be discharged against medical advice, and one patient currently in a critical condition is awaiting transfer to Gwagwalada Specialist Hospital in Abuja.
The governor’s aide said an 18-man multi-disciplinary medical team from the state’s Ministry of Health, led by the Commissioner of Secondary and Tertiary Healthcare, Dr. Tukur Bello, the Special Adviser on Health, Dr. Shehu Ahmed, and the Special Adviser on Special Duties, Dr. Murtala Bagana, were on hand to provide urgent medical relief to the fire victims.
He added that following the assessment of current conditions of the patients, it was agreed that they would require intensive care, the reason some of them were referred to tertiary healthcare facilities in Abuja.
Niger state Governor Mohammed Umaru Bago had directed that free medical services and sufficient health workers be deployed to all the sites where the tanker fire patients are being treated.
