Stuffy hospital: This place is too hot – Inauguration day blast victims lament

The blast that shook the Zuba Motor Park on Sunday night claimed the life of a man and wounded nine others at a drinking joint located in the park.

Some of the victims had gone to the bar to relax when they were caught in the blast that destroyed cartons of beer and dug a little crater in the ground.

Our correspondents, who visited the scene on Monday, saw shards of broken beer bottles and torn canopies, evidence of the carnage that had left both flesh and mental scars on the victims.

An official of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps at the scene explained that the severed leg of the dead victim was recovered a few minutes before PUNCH METRO got there, adding that the deceased had been taken to the mortuary.

At the Diamond Crest Hospital and Maternity Home where four of the victims were admitted, they lay sweating on the bed in the hot unventilated wards they were admitted. Gideon Benjamin and Stephen Adoga, who were in ward 1, were injured on their torso, which had been treated.

Benjamin, 18, had an injury close to his right eye, which was bloodshot. He was lying on his side, talking with about four other visitors in the hot room earmarked as a ward. The young man, who is a waiter at one of the joints, said he was about giving balance to Adoga who had come to buy a carton of beer, when a loud bang went off.

Benjamin, a secondary school dropout, who was employed two weeks ago, said he was brought to the hospital by sympathisers.

Adoga stated that the explosion rocked him on his feet and he ran swiftly back to his master’s shop. “It was my oga that brought me to this hospital,” he said.

Peter Eliya and his friend, Peter Ayuba in ward 3, were sweating profusely as their wives fanned them. The duo, who were regular visitors to the joint, were yet to order for drinks when the blast occurred. Eliya, a businessman, had stitches in his right cheek, head, chest, right hand and legs, while Ayuba carried a heavy plaster across his head to one of his cheeks as well as stitches on his forearm and legs.

Eliya, 32, called for government’s assistance, as he expressed doubts about the ability of the hospital to adequately take care of them. “As you can see, this ward is hot and there is no ventilation due to the way the ward was built. We need government’s assistance so that we can be taken to a better hospital,” he said.

His wife, Rose, said she was shocked to learn that her husband was affected by the blast. “I was sleeping when a neighbour woke me up and told me about the blast. I looked around, but didn’t find my husband. Then, I called his phone and it was picked up by a strange voice, who asked me to come to the hospital. I am happy he survived the explosion,” she said, as she took time off momentarily from fanning her sweating spouse.

The Head of Public Relations, National Emergency Management Agency, Mr. Yushau Shuaib, said the agency was making arrangements to transfer the victims to Gwagwadala General Hospital on Tuesday (today) for proper medical treatment.

“We are making arrangements to transfer the victims to a better hospital. Already, the Director General of National Emergency Management Agency, Mr. Muhammad Sani-Sidi, has directed the Abuja operations office of the agency to move the victims to Gwagwalada Specialist Hospital tomorrow morning for proper medical attention,” Shuaib said.

Posted: at 31-05-2011 01:06 PM (13 years ago) | Gistmaniac

serve them right, must they always go to beer parlours, can't they buy drinks and drink with their families at home?  Am sure when they survive it, they will never smell a beer parlor again.

Posted: at 31-05-2011 01:43 PM (13 years ago) | Gistmaniac