FROM SAMSON ALFA, MINNA
Death toll at the recent tanker explosion at Diko junction along Abuja- Kaduna road increased to 98 with 69 injured.
According to the latest report from the Niger State Emergency Management Agency, NSEMA, additional 12 deaths were confirmed with 14 people injured.
Director-General of the agency, Alhaji Abdullahi Arah, in a statement in Minna on Monday, said the total figure of death had increased from 86 to 98, while that of injured persons rose to 69 as against the previous 55.
20 shops were equally destroyed.
Arah said some of the victims admitted in Suleja General Hospital lost their lives as a result.
According to the statement, out of the 43 injured victims on admission, seven died, while three out of 23 out-patients also died in various hospitals.
He said on the day of the incident, burnt bodies were recovered, with 80 of them buried in a mass grave at the premises of the primary healthcare centre in Diko, while five bodies were taken away for burial in the town by relatives, in addition with the one that died at Diko PHC.
The statement added that mass burial was carried out by NSEMA in collaboration with Gurara Local Government and other volunteers on Saturday.
