Taraba: Three children killed, others injured by gunpowder explosion
Sylvanus Viashima, Jalingo
At least Three children are confirmed dead and Four others injured when a dane gun they were toying with exploded in Karim Lamido local government area of Taraba State.
The State Commissioner of Police David Iloyonomon who confirmed this said that, contrary to earlier speculations of IEDs or Dynamite explosion, investigation shows that the Three children were playing with the Dane gun on the tree when it exploded, leading to the death of the trio who were on the tree and serious injuries to the other Four who were under the tree.
According to him, the four other children playing under the tree were injured with one fatally affected and receiving treatment at the state’s specialist hospital located in Jalingo, the state capital.
”One Danjuma Audu gave the information to the police that their was an explosion which resulted to the dead of three youngsters and the injury of four others. On the receipt of the information, we deployed the anti bomb unit of the Nigeria Police Force who rushed to the scene, conducted a professional and thorough search and discovered that no exhibit is related to dynamite or IED recovered from the scene.
”Instead, they recovered pallets from a den gun which was evident in the bodies of the casualties and suspected to be responsible for their dead. Since there was no assailant, it is suspected to be an accidental discharge” he said
The commissioner of police further revealed that the scene of the incident have been condoned and investigation still ongoing to unravel more facts.
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”Further findings by the E.O.D unit revealed that the three pallets recovered are used in conjunction with gun powder to prepare ammunition for den guns. Thereafter we went to further interview Mallam Danjuma Audu who reported the incident to the police, revealed that the three children that died were the ones on top of the tree while in the farm, while the other four that were on the ground sustained injuries and that’s a very clear evidence to show that it is not an IED explosion, because if it were to be IED or dynamite explosion, those children on the ground and on the tree would have been shattered beyond recognition”.
The police commissioner identified the three deceased children as Miracle Danjuma 11 years old, Liyacheyan Bitrus 12 years old, Kefas Bitrus 11 years old, with the first casualty Miracle Danjuma the son of the man who reported the incident.
Others that sustained varying degrees of injuries include Joseph Danjuma 8 years old, Leah Aluda 8 years old, Godbless Hassan 7 years old, Christian Hassan 7 years old who happen to be the grand children of Danjuma Audu, the owner of an irrigation rice farm whom the children followed to assist in his farm.
