Benue intercepts corpse in transit, changes burial site

The Benue State Action Committee on COVID-19 is to bury a corpse it intercepted in transit in Makurdi on suspicion the victims may have died of coronavirus. The body was intercept Monday night while being transported from Lagos to the deceased’s home town in Logo Local Government Area of the state. The issue came up […]

The Benue State Action Committee on COVID-19 is to bury a corpse it intercepted in transit in Makurdi on suspicion the victims may have died of coronavirus.

The body was intercept Monday night while being transported from Lagos to the deceased’s home town in Logo Local Government Area of the state.

The issue came up as Governor Samuel Ortom briefed journalists at Government House, Makurdi on Tuesday.

“Issue of corpse brought into the state require the permission of the COVID-19 committee. What we did in Konshisha case [referring to a previous incident] was to apprehend the corpse and buried it in Makurdi.

“Let us respect the regulation on COVID-19. The steps we are taking is meant to protect everyone,” the governor said.

Earlier, the caretaker chairman of Buruku Local Government Area, Dooshima Esther Orlu, intimated that they intercepted a suspected COVID-19 corpse coming from Lagos on Monday at 11:23pm.

She added that the people who conveyed the corpse from Lagos were heading to Logo local government area for the burial, stressing that the intercepted corpse was kept at the General Hospital Mortuary in Buruku and handed over to the State COVID 19 committee team headed by the Deputy Governor Benson Abounu by on Tuesday morning.

Orlu also in the statement endorsed by her media aide, Ikyaan Godwin Ikyaan, indicated that the Marine boys who made attempt to cross the corpse through the river were also held to be quarantine alongside with the people involved in conveying the corpse from Lagos into Benue.