Two victims of Zamfara market explosion die
Two of the victims of the gun powder explosion at Talatan Mafara weekly market in Zamfara State have died. The deceased were among the victims taken to Sokoto for intensive care treatment at the Usmanu Danfodiyo University Teaching Hospital. The deceased, Muhammad Lawal Matusgi and Sani Adamu Kanarkalgo, were said to have died Wednesday morning […]
Two of the victims of the gun powder explosion at Talatan Mafara weekly market in Zamfara State have died.
The deceased were among the victims taken to Sokoto for intensive care treatment at the Usmanu Danfodiyo University Teaching Hospital.
The deceased, Muhammad Lawal Matusgi and Sani Adamu Kanarkalgo, were said to have died Wednesday morning while receiving treatment at the hospital.
Daily Trust reported that about 50 traders and customers were said to have sustained varying degrees of burns as a result of the explosion which occured on Tuesday.
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According to the locals, the explosion occured around 11:30am at the section of the market where locally fabricated guns were being sold.
A nursing staff at the General Hospital, Talatan Mafara who spoke on condition of anonymity, told our reporter that over 50 victims, some of whom suffered first degree burns, were brought to the hospital.
According to him, the 100-bed capacity hospital was already overwhelmed by patients even before the explosion.
“So we received some of them and referred others to Usmanu Danfodiyo University Teaching Hospital, Sokoto,” he said
The Divisional Secretary of Red Cross, Mu’azu Yusuf who corroborated that over 50 persons were injured, said, “Senator Abdulazeez Yari has sent vehicles which carried all the injured persons, including those that were already receiving treatment at the General Hospital, Talatan Mafara to Sokoto for intensive care.”
One of the local government employees, who pleaded not to be named because he was not authorised to speak, described the explosion as devastating, saying it affected other sections of the market.
“It is our main market, and a lot of goods are sold in the market. People have been expressing worry over the presence of dane gun sellers in the market but nothing was done by our local authority.
“Even last year, a girl was killed as a result of accidental discharge at the same place where the explosion occured.
“We are appealing to the state and local government authorities to find another place on the outskirts of the town for dane gun sellers,” he said.
He, however, ruled out banning of dane gun business in the area, saying many villagers relied on it to defend their communities against invasion by bandits.
All efforts to reach out to the local government chairman, Alhaji Yahya Abubakar Yari, proved abortive as he neither responded to calls nor replied to the text message sent to his phone by our reporter.
However, the Spokesman of the Zamfara Police Command, ASP Yazid Abubakar, confirmed the incident, but said he had not been adequately briefed about it because he just returned from Abuja.
He promised to get back to our report after getting details of the incident from the Divisional Police Officer of Talatan Mafara.