Over 50 people escaped death on Tuesday when a gunpowder explosion occurred in a market in Talata-Mafara town in Zamfara State.
Our correspondent gathered that the victims had been transported to the Usman Danfodiyo Teaching Hospital in Sokoto for medical care.
A medical worker at the General Hospital Talata-Mafara, who requested anonymity, told reporters on Tuesday that the victims were brought to the hospital for treatment due to various degrees of injuries sustained in the explosion but were later transferred to the Usman Danfodiyo Teaching Hospital in Sokoto.
According to him, “The patients have to be evacuated to Sokoto because they could not be treated here at the General Hospital Talata-Mafara due to lack of facilities.”
He emphasized that the victims were gravely hurt by the blast and required proper care.
Aminu Mohammed, an indigene of Talata-Mafara town, told our correspondent that the victims were injured as a result of a gunpowder explosion.
Mohammed said, “The incident occurred in the afternoon when the activities of the market were going on.”
According to him, one of the locally made firearms exploded in the market, striking a powdered material being sold to local gun owners.
“One of the vigilante group members came to buy the powdered material for his gun, and suddenly his gun exploded and hit the substance. As a result, the whole area went ablaze.
“More than 50 persons have been seriously injured due to the explosion, while several others also sustained injuries as they struggled to escape out of the market,” he said.
Mohammed asserted that the fire would have engulfed the whole market if not for the involvement of security personnel and firefighters.
Yahaya Yari, chairman of the Talata-Mafara Local Government Area, said that he was in Sokoto with the affected individuals for medical care but declined to say further.
Efforts to speak to the spokesperson for the state police command, ASP Yazid Abubakar, failed as he could not be reached on the phone at the time of filing this report.
