NIGERIA: Hospital runs out of medicine to tend for wounded from devastating tanker fire / Locals bury their dead in a nearby mass grave
Record ID:
235706
NIGERIA: Hospital runs out of medicine to tend for wounded from devastating tanker fire / Locals bury their dead in a nearby mass grave
- Title: NIGERIA: Hospital runs out of medicine to tend for wounded from devastating tanker fire / Locals bury their dead in a nearby mass grave
- Date: 13th July 2012
- Summary: OKOGBE, NIGERIA (JULY 12, 2012) (REUTERS) BADLY BURNED WOUNDED ON GURNEY OUTSIDE HOSPITAL DOCTORS AT ENTRANCE TO HOSPITAL (SOUNDBITE) (Pidgin English) BROTHER TO THE SURVIVOR BEING WHEELED OUT OF THE HOSPITAL, SUNDAY AKPARA, SAYING: "The doctors are not attending to us since morning they can only give drip to the victims and now we have to take our brother away before he dies." WOUNDED IN HOSPITAL BED HOOKED UP TO IV DRIP MORE OF WOUNDED IN HOSPITAL BED EXTERIOR LOCAL MEDICINE MAN'S HUT WILSON GABRIEL, A TRADITIONAL MEDICINE MAN ATTENDING TO SURVIVORS OF THE TANK FIRE (SOUNDBITE) (Pidgin English) TRADITIONAL MEDICINE MAN, WILSON GABRIEL, SAYING: "Initially in the morning the number was high and they were up to 30 - 35 persons that were here and I tried to cool down their temperature according to the practice, after that some of them left and were taken to the hospital, but right now I have 8 left and they are responding well." VICTIMS IN BODY BAGS PEOPLE TIE UP BODY BAGS (SOUNDBITE) (English) (Pidgin English) FATHER WHO LOST DAUGHTIER IN THE TANKER FIRE, IZURIKE EKE, SAYING: "My daughter, my younger sister who has four kids are victims here and including one of my sons burnt and he is now at home receiving local treatment." VOLUNTEERS CARRYING BODY BAG CRANE PUTTING BODIES IN DITCH VOLUNTEERS THROWING BODY IN DITCH BODIES IN THE DITCH
- Embargoed: 28th July 2012 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Nigeria
- Country: Nigeria
- Topics: Accidents,Health,Industry
- Reuters ID: LVA9FE5GFCI26AP36L9DSVDQA78P
- Story Text: Dozens of survivors of Nigeria's tanker explosion on Thursday (July 12) were unable to get treatment for their wounds almost ten hours after a petrol tanker crashed and caught fire as people crowded around it to try and scoop up fuel.
Sunday Akpara said his brother had not been treated since he was taken to the hospital in Okogbe on Thursday morning and had decided to seek alternative help.
"The doctors are not attending to us since morning they can only give drip to the victims and now we have to take our brother away before he dies," said Akpara.
Dozens of survivors were rushed to a local hospital in Okogbe suffering from severe burns and relatives crowded the wards to help their loved ones.
A senior medical officer who did not want to be named said the hospital had run out of drugs and did not have sufficient staff to attend to all the patients.
President Goodluck Jonathan issued a statement ordering relief to be sent to the wounded.
At least 92 people, including women and children, were killed after a gasoline tanker crashed on the east-west road in Nigeria's oil-producing Niger Delta and caught fire.
About 8 survivors were already being treated in a village not far from the site of the accident by a local traditional medicine man Wilson Gabriel.
"Initially in the morning the number was high and they were up to 30 - 35 persons that were here and I tried to cool down their temperature according to the practice, after that some of them left and were taken to the hospital, but right now I have 8 left and they are responding well," said Gabriel.
Those killed in the inferno were buried late Thursday (July 12, 2012) without much ceremony close to the accident scene as relatives and sympathisers watched, some wailing uncontrollably.
Izurike Eke a resident of Okogbe said it would take him a long time to recover from his loss.
"My daughter, my younger sister who has four kids are victims here and including one of my sons burnt and he is now at home receiving local treatment."
Near the site of the blaze victims were wrapped in black plastic bags and thrown in a ditch.
Tanker crashes are common on Nigeria's pot-holed and poorly maintained roads, and in a region where most people live on less than $2 a day the chance to collect spilling petrol is too much of a temptation, despite the high risk of fires.
The east-west road where the crash happened runs across the oil-producing region and has been scheduled for development for almost a decade. Each year, money is allocated for the road in the federal budget.
Nigeria, Africa's biggest oil producer, is plagued by corruption and inefficiency. Most years, only about half of its budgeted programmes are actually implemented. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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