RIGHTS-NIGERIA: Rescue Workers Still Searching for Survivors

By Toye Olori Reprint | | Print |

Toye Olori

LAGOS, Feb 3 2003 (IPS) - Rescue workers were on Monday still digging into the rubble of a four-storey building in Lagos, the commercial capital of Nigeria, where a weekend blast has left 22 people dead and hundreds injured.

Several buildings, in the vicinity, were also damaged, according to a government statement Monday.

The explosion, which occurred Sunday afternoon, came just one week after the country marked the first anniversary of the bomb blast at Ikeja military barracks, Lagos, on Jan 27. More than 1,000 people died and 5,000 others were displaced in the blast.

The source of Sunday’s explosion has not been established, but eyewitnesses say a fire was noticed at the basement of the building, followed by a loud explosion.

”I was going to play football at the nearby pitch when I saw smoke from a building. Suddenly there was a loud bang. I ran away, and, when I returned to the scene of the blast, I found that the people who were putting out the fire were all dead, lying on the floor,” says Bolaji Olasunkanmi, a teenage boy.

Fatima Alade, an undergraduate student, who came home to collect her school fees, was lucky. ”I was preparing to return to school when I saw a group of people struggling to put out the fire. I rushed back into our house, which is not far from the building being consumed by the fire. I heard a loud bang. I ran to the corridor and jumped down and got injured,” she says

When Alade returned from hospital, she found that her flat had been ransacked including the 10,000 Naira (around 100 U.S. dollars) for her school fees, missing. ”I do not really know what caused the explosion. But, I believe it is a bomb because it sounded just like the noise we heard at Ikeja last year,” says Alade.

Criticising looters, Kayode Anibaba, Lagos State Commissioner for Environment, says ”It is unfortunate that rather than saving lives, some people were busy chasing after money, carting away people’s belongings and opening up vaults in the affected bank. This is sad.”

A bank, in the vicinity, was also destroyed by the blast.

Leke Pitan, Lagos State Commissioner for Health, says 100 people were injured and 22 bodies were recovered late Sunday. Sixty persons were admitted to hospital with fractures, head injuries and broken limbs.

”Excavation work is still continuing to determine if we still have people trapped under the rubble. But in future, we will have sniffer dogs to locate those trapped, so that we will not risk the lives of rescuers,” says Pitan.

President Olusegun Obasanjo, Lagos State Governor Bola Tinubu, and other top government officials rushed to the scene of the incident on Sunday. An overwhelmed Obasanjo did not make any comment but was briefed by the Lagos State governor.

”It is sad and tragic that this incident is coming just seven days after the commemoration of the Ikeja bomb blast of last year,” says Tinubu.

”We must not give in to fear and despair. I have contacted the relevant agencies and will set up a commission of experts to unravel the cause of the blast. Until we have expert reports, I cannot say it is a bomb blast or not,” says Tinubu, who also witnessed last year’s bomb blast at Ikeja.

This is not the first time that Lagos has witnessed a bomb blast in recent years. The residents of Lagos, who numbers around 12 million, witnessed the Ikeja blast, and the Idi-Araba ethnic clashes in which houses were set ablaze and residents killed, in 2001. In 2002, the cargo shed at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport witnessed an explosion, which destroyed the building, including luggage. Then came the blast at the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation building in Ikoyi, Lagos, which also caused extensive damage.

Donors responded generously to the Ikeja bomb blast. Although the government says it has disbursed some 500 million naira (around 50 million U.S. dollars), there is nothing to show for.

”Where did all the money that was collected during the disaster of January last year go? What did government use it for? Is it just to buy mattresses and foodstuff for the victims?” asks Charles Okah, a member of the rescue team at the scene.

”We expect the government to have used part of the donations to buy rescue equipment and train personnel in rescue operations,” he says. ”If it has done so, by now we would have been prepared for any disaster.”