By Muhammad Tanko Shittu
Jos
Death toll resulting from Tuesday’s bomb blasts in Jos has hit 123, rescue officials have said.
The entire scene and its business neighbourhood were cordoned off by the Police anti bomb squad, while the men of the civil defence, NEMA, SEMA and Red Cross searched and evacuated some parts of human bodies out of the burnt and collapsed shops.
An official of the Red Cross said as at yesterday at 9:30 am “five more victims have died three of whom at the Plateau Specialist Hospital and two Ola Hospital.”
The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) on Tuesday confirmed the death of 118.
The Inspector General of Police, M.D, Abubakar and the Director-General of NEMA, Muhammad Sani-Sidi, who visited the scene, commiserated with the victims at JUTH.
Abubakar said the security agencies would work together to do everything to fetch out the perpetrators of the act.
On his part, Sani-Sidi assured the victims of his agency’s support, saying that they would collaborate with SEMA to give the necessary relief to the survivors.
Business premises were closed up in the area, but it has been very calm.
Our correspondent, who was at Plateau hospital, spoke with a survivor, Mrs. Ruth Joseph, who along with her three-year-old girl, Dokas, sustained injuries at upper limbs.
She said: “I went to visit my elder sister who cooked and sells food, and we just heard the blast. I fainted and woke up just to discover myself and the baby on this bed.”
She added that her sister was not affected.
Angry youths on Tuesday evening staged reprisal attack on people around Tina Junction and Gada Biyu areas, an action that had brewed tension in the city.