Posted by By Femi Adi/Kaduna on
It was a day of mourning in Kaduna, Wednesday, when fire engulfed the temporary site of the rehabilitation centre for the disabled, located on Kano Road, Kaduna, leaving nine disabled persons dead and several others injured.
It was a day of mourning in Kaduna, Wednesday, when fire engulfed the temporary site of the rehabilitation centre for the disabled, located on Kano Road, Kaduna, leaving nine disabled persons dead and several others injured.
P.M.News spoke to some eyewitnesses who said they tried their best to rescue some blind and crippled inmates trapped in the compound, but could not save many that were already affected by the fire.
One of the eyewitnesses, Mallam Usman Kubau, attributed the loss of lives to carelessness on the part of managers of the centre. According to him, there was no able bodied person around when the fire started to help direct the blind and crippled that died in the inferno.
The rehabilitation centre that accommodated over two hundred disabled in the state, was completely razed by fire, which was allegedly caused by fire used for cooking sallah food.
P.M.News also visited the Barau Dikko General Hospital where some injured disabled were taken to for medical attention. Those who managed to wriggle out of the zinc house have been rendered homeless with some confused and traumatised.
Reacting to the incident, the President of the Joint Association of Persons with Disabilities, Kaduna Chapter, Comrade Rilwan Mohammed, said those affected were mostly the blind who ran into the fire and the crippled that could not walk when the fire started.
Mohammed blamed the State Emergency Management Agency for not responding promptly to distress calls by neighbours and good samaritans.
He said the fire started around 6 a.m., and raged till about 11a.m. when fire fighters and passersby helped to extinguish it. The state government has directed that other disabled people be evacuated from the site to a place where they can be properly accommodated. The state Commissioner for Health, who spoke on behalf of the governor, assured that this kind of incident would never happen again. He then urged the disabled in the state to remain calm.