Here is the story narrated by the survivors of the Emab plaza bomb blast,
A few of those who were lucky to be alive when a bomb
exploded at a popular shopping mall in Abuja on Wednesday with new reports
saying 22 died and over 50 injured, have explained how they narrowly
escaped death and thanked God for sparing their lives.
Taxi driver cheats death
A taxi driver, who identified himself as Malachy Odo to Vanguard, said
he was caught up in the midst of the ravaging fire after the bomb exploded at
the car park of Emab Plaza.
He said: “I had arrived at the plaza in my cab minutes
earlier. After the last passenger alighted from the cab, I was reversing when I
heard the explosion. My car went up in flames, and I struggled to pass through
the window and in the process my left hand caught fire. As I was running for my dear life, broken
glasses pierced my feet. I was later rushed by rescuers to Maitama General
Hospital.”
Another survivor, Mrs Mary Andrew, said she was lying on the
ground beside her groundnut tray, while waiting for buyers at the entrance of
Emab Plaza, when the blast occurred.
According to her: “I
was lying down when the bomb exploded, and my baby was also with me. After the
blast, I discovered that three of my fellow groundnut sellers were dead. I was
very lucky, I was not hurt, and I thank God for saving my life.”
I was covered with broken glasses —Olasupo
Samuel Olasupo, who sells and repairs mobile phones at Emab
plaza had this to say: “I was about to take step out of my shop to the gate to
buy corn, when the bomb exploded. I was thrown to the floor and my body was
pierced by pieces of glass. When I recovered from the impact of the blast, I
gave glory to God.”
He said the bomb-laden car was said to have been parked at
the entrance of the plaza for more than 30 minutes with nobody inside.
Another eyewitness who spoke to Vanguard identified himself
as Joseph Okonkwo. Okonkwo who said he is a journalist said his office was
located at Emab Plaza. He said he writes for Legis Magazine based in Abuja.
Said he: “As I was
entering Emab Plaza, yesterday (Wednesday), I walked past a particular shop I normally go
to which is close to the gate. I later saw the person I went to visit and
discussed with him after which I suddenly heard a big bang. A lot of things
flew into the air. I saw a lot of smoke.
“I began to run and
when I was about to jump a fence, I
saw some people whose skin had
been peeled by the heat generated by the blast. They were trying to jump too.
Everybody ran to the back side because the explosion occurred at the gate. Some people who were close to me were
affected by the blast. The impact of the blast is still disturbing me. I was psychologically
affected but physically okay.”
And in Daniel’s case his 24-year old cousin who works at a pharmaceutical
shop in the plaza is still missing;
Daniel Itodo said he was still searching for his cousin, 24-year-old
Bassey Bassey, who hails from Cross River State. Bassey, who was said to be the
first child of his parents was working with a pharmaceutical shop at the plaza.
“I was at home when I heard about the bomb blast at Wuse II,
and I remembered that my cousin, Bassey
Bassey was at the shopping plaza. I rushed to the pharmacy where he was working at Emab plaza, near Banex. I
was told that about three minutes before the bomb blast, my cousin left with a
customer that came to the pharmacy to
buy some drugs. Since then his phone has been switched off and he is
nowhere to be found. I have gone to University of Abuja Teaching Hospital and
National Hospital, where I saw health officials attending to some injured
people brought to them, and I learnt four persons were in the intensive care
unit. But I was not allowed to have
access to them. I went to Garki Hospital and I could not see him there.”
He continued: “I went to Maitama General Hospital where
I saw up to 10 dead bodies. Four could
not be identified because the bodies were charred. One of the bodies was
without a head, with intestines packed on one side.
No comments:
Post a Comment
you are naijah for real page