50 escape death in Zamfara market explosion
Explosion
More than 50 persons escaped death on Tuesday when a gunpowder explosion occurred in a market in Talata-Mafara town in Zamfara State.
Our correspondent learnt the victims had been transferred to the Usman Danfodiyo teaching hospital Sokoto for medical treatment.
A medical worker at the General Hospital Talata-Mafara, who pleaded anonymity, informed PUNCH Metro on Tuesday that the victims were brought to the hospital for treatment due to various degrees of injuries they sustained in the explosion but were transferred to the Usman Danfodiyo Teaching Hospital Sokoto.
According to him, “The patients have to be evacuated to Sokoto because they could not be treated here at the General Hospital Talata-Mafara due to lack of facilities.”
He stressed that the victims were seriously injured by the explosion and needed proper care.
Speaking to our correspondent, an indigene of Talata-Mafara town, Aminu Mohammed, said the victims were injured as a result of a gunpowder that exploded.
Mohammed said, “The incident occurred in the afternoon when the activities of the market were going on.”
According to him, one of the locally made guns exploded in the market and hit a powdered material being sold for locally made gun owners.
“One of the vigilante group members came to buy the powdered material for his gun and suddenly his gun exploded and hit the substance. As a result, the whole area went ablaze.
“More 50 persons have been seriously injured due to the explosion while several others also sustained injuries as they struggled to escape out of the market,” he said.
Mohammed maintained that the fire would have consumed the whole market if not for the intervention of security personnel and firefighters.
The chairman of Talata-Mafara Local Government Area, Yahaya Yari, said he was in Sokoto with the affected persons for medical treatment, but declined further comments.
Efforts to speak to the spokesperson for the state police command, ASP Yazid Abubakar, failed as he could not be reached on phone at the time of filing in this report.
