20th May, 2014
. The dead and injured still being evacuated
The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) on Tuesday declared that the casualty rate after the twin bomb blasts at the Terminus market in Jos could be best described as catastrophic.
“I can’t tell you the figure of those killed by the blasts now, because we are still evacuating bodies from the scene.
“The only thing I can say is that the casualty figure is very massive. It is a catastrophe,’’ Alhaji Abdulsalam Abubakar, the NEMA Co-ordinator (North-Central), told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Jos.
His reaction was in the aftermath of the incidence of two devices which exploded on Tuesday at the Terminus market.
The first explosion had gone off in the centre of the market around 3.28 p.m., while the second followed about 14 minutes later.
Abubakar said both explosives were loaded in parked cars.
“The bombers parked the cars and left the explosives to detonate. It was in the market and at a peak period. So, you can only imagine what could have happened,’’ he said.
He said dead bodies and mutilated human parts were being deposited at the old and new Jos University Teaching Hospitals, as well as the Plateau Special Hospital.
“There are also a massive number of people injured. We have conveyed some to various hospitals,’’ the NEMA official said.
He said that an idea of the number of casualties was only possible after the rescue operation.
“We will have to first finish the operation and then visit the various hospitals. For now, we are only picking dead bodies all over the place,’’ Abubakar said.
Mr Chris Olapke, Plateau’s Commissioner of Police, who also spoke to NAN, confirmed that it was difficult to confirm the figure immediately.
“We are still busy at the scene. We shall speak later,’’ he said