Survivors and families of those that lost their lives in the Kaduna Easter Sunday bomb blast have continued to recount their ordeals a day after the explosion killed over thirty people and injured tens of others.
Speaking to LEADERSHIP, a survivor, Malam Musa Adamu, who is a commercial motorcyclist, said “I would have been blown up, if not for the help of my passenger.”According to him, “there was a little traffic hold-up around the scene of the blast and I was trying to manoeuvre my way, but a commercial bus appeared from nowhere and blocked my way”.
“I was to go and abuse the bus driver to make him give way when I discovered that he parked in my front to pick passengers. The passenger I was carrying behind begged me to allow the bus to pick the passengers and go”.
“It was while we were still waiting that the bomb exploded few metres ahead of us. I am grateful to Allah and my passenger, because I would have been a dead man by now,” he said.
Another motorcyclist, Dan Shehu, who sustained a minor injury from the explosion, told LEADERSHIP: “I watched my friend roasted to death and his motorcycle burnt beyond recognition while taking breakfast from a tea vendor.
“I just parked my bike as usual with my colleagues who were standing by theirs waiting for passengers. I was just preparing to eat ‘indomie’ after I sipped my tea when I heard a very loud explosion. For the first five minutes, I didn’t even know where I was because I could not hear anything again”, Dan Shehu explained.
A relative of one of the commercial motorcyclists that was killed by the explosion said it is only God that will punish those behind these acts of bombings. “Just imagine this. My brother kept struggling with a hired machine until about a week ago when he finally bought his and we were all very happy. Unfortunately, he was killed by this explosion.”
When LEADERSHIP visited the scene of the bomb blast, a commercial motorcyclist, Danladi Abubakar confirmed that he would have been a victim of the blast if not for a passenger who took him away barely five minutes from the tea joint which happens to be their resting point, lamenting that all the rest of his friends were victims including the man selling tea near the spot.
“Truly, only Allah saved me and the passenger that asked me to take her to Oriakpata. About five minutes after we left there, the bomb blast occurred. In fact, I almost fell from my bike when I heard the sound of the blast.”
Narrating further, he said, “it was later that I discovered that my motorcycle had been burnt by the explosion while others were lying in the pool of their own blood”.
Amina Mohammed, whose house was badly affected said, “The sound of the blast was horrible. I saw a lightening and thought it was a transformer that sparked off only to see our houses shaking, ceilings falling down, walls cracking and my mother, who was in the kitchen, had to be dragged out because she was trapped.”
“My younger brother’s friend that was in the house then sustained series of injuries resulting from the broken glasses that were flying all over. Our house is behind FINA White House Hotel that was severely damaged,” he added.
Henry Orihomi, manager of Fedeco hotels said they are still trying to collate the damages before they could arrive at their total worth. He, however, mournfully said, “As you can see for yourself, almost all the building is affected. Glasses were shattered and all the ceilings fell down. Shops that are in front of the hotels are badly damaged too.
Meanwhile, the Kaduna State Public Works Agency (KAPWA) has fixed the part of the road that was affected by the blast. Leader of the KAPWA team to the scene and the agency’s Director of Works, Engineer Tanimu B. Abubakar told our reporters that he was not in position to speak with the press, stating that he was directed to fix the part of the road affected by the bomb.
“As you can see, we have just fixed the road. And I can assure you that we have done an excellent job as directed by our boss”, he said.
However, as at the time of filing this report, the scene of the Easter Day explosion was still surrounded by a large crowd, some of whom were seen exchanging visual recordings and photographs of the incident with their mobile phones, while others were chatting about how the explosion occurred and the casualties it recorded.
News curled from Leadership Newspaper website.
No comments:
Post a Comment