Posted by By TESSY OKOYE on
The pain of the survivors as they lay on their hospital bed at the Burns Unit of Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) where they are recuperating knew no bounds.
The pain of the survivors as they lay on their hospital bed at the Burns Unit of Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) where they are recuperating knew no bounds. Swathed in rolls of bandage, they twisted and writhed in excruciating pains that could only be conveyed in moans to doctors and relations attending to their needs.
They are sad reminders of last Thursday's pipeline explosion that left in its trail a staggering number of fatalities.
Ramon Ramota is among the traders whose shops were razed by the pipeline fire. She told Daily Sun that she was settling down to the day's activities when she saw the earthmover used by the construction company lift up a pipe which resulted in the carnage. Ramota said she could have escaped the fire if not that she gave in to the motherly instinct of rescuing her son that was playing nearby.
'I was in my mothers' shop when it happened. Up till this moment, I still believe it was a movie. The caterpillar that caused the fire had been working on the road for a while. But that morning, at about 11a.m, it lifted a pipe and the next thing we saw were balls of fire. I sustained burns because I ran back to rescue my son that was playing with a neighbour. When I could not find him, I ran back, but by then, my clothes were already on fire. The only thing I remembered before I fainted was that people started peeling off my clothes.
Asked where her son is, she replied, 'I just heard his cry on the phone. He is with the father at home. At this point, Daily Sun received a signal from the mother of Ramota to step outside the ward for some words.
In a voice choking with emotion, the woman who was later identified as Iya Onigo said: 'Please don't ask her that question again. We believe the son is dead because we have not seen him after the incident. It was when she became hysterical and demanded for her son that we called her husband and made him put the phone on the mouth of another child. We can't tell her yet because she might not recover from the shock," she cried.
To 16-year-old Elizabeth Emelia, fulfilling her dream of studing Medicine in any of Nigeria's tertiary institutions was uppermost in her mind. It was in this spirit that she prepared and looked forward to the forthcoming JAMB examination. With fate visiting cruelty on her days before the exam, Elizabeth is still holding tenaciously to her dreams, at the same time being grateful to God for sparing her life.
'I was returning from school with a cousin when the explosion happened. We only heard a loud bang and smoke engulfed the whole place. Even though we had gone quite a distance from the site of the incident, the fire was able to catch up with us inside my uncles' Nissan Sunny car. We were lucky to escape with our lives, but nothing was left of the car. I thank God for sparing my life because as I was being moved to the hospital, I saw the corpse of a woman that greeted us a few minutes before the explosion by the side of the road," she said.
Babarinde Adebola, a food vendor, is still being haunted by the helpless cries of her customers that were trapped inside her shop when the explosion took place. To her, nothing can heal the pain or remove the memories of mangled bodies strewn all over the place by the impact of the explosion.
Funmilayo Adebayo, a stylist, presently lives with the fear that she might not regain the use of her hands again. Her fears are founded on the fact that her two hands, wrapped in heavy bandages, have not responded to any form of stimuli.
With a faraway look in her eyes, and on the verge shedding tears, she narrated to Daily Sun how she started that fateful day with high hopes and without evil foreboding, only to be rushed to the hospital hours later with heat burns all over her body and back.
'My mother operates a restaurant along Isolo Road, and I had gone to help her before going to my salon that is just down the road. While I was attending to a customer, I heard a loud noise and saw people running. By the time I realised the danger, my skin had started peeling off. It was people that pulled me out of the fire and rushed me to a nearby hospital. Right now, I don't know if my mother is alive. I left her inside the shop when I heard the explosion", she cried.
Speaking with Daily Sun while on routine inspection of Thursday's pipeline explosion victims, the General Manager of Lagos State Emergency Management Agency, Dr Femi Osanyintolu said that although the explosion site has been cordoned off to avert further danger, they are liasing with NNPC to provide permanent solution to pipeline explosions in the state.
'Aside enlightening people about the danger of vandalizing pipelines, we are working with NNPC to have a layout of places where pipelines are buried in the area. It was an unfortunate accident and we have opened a register for people to document names of their missing loved ones. We are also appealing to victims of the hospital receiving treatment to please move to LASUTH for free and proper medical treatment provided by the state government."