At least 18 people were on Friday morning confirmed injured, some of them burnt beyond recognition, while several others sustained third degree burns in an inferno at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Calabar following an explosion on the premises of the bank on Calabar Road by the Millennium Park.
The explosion took place at about 11.45 am and set the main edifice of the bank on fire and effectively trapped in many staff and visitors leading to the high casualty anticipated.
At about noon, a team of mobile policemen and soldiers assisted by nurses and personnel of Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps were seen keeping guard over the place while officials of the Federal and State Fire Services were putting out the fire and rescuing those trapped in the building.
“I cannot give exact figures of how many people are dead, but many people were burnt beyound recognition while many sustained third degree burns; rescue operation is going on to ensure everyone is brought out soon,” an Official of the Federal Fire Service at the Calabar Airport told our reporter.
He said the source of the explosion is not known but it is speculated to be some locally made improvised device while some say it is the gas tank at the generator house that exploded.
Ambulances from University of Calabar Teaching Hospital (UCTH) and General Hospital, Calabar were brought in to evacuate the dead and those wounded while rescue efforts were being made to extricate those still in the burning building.
No official of the bank was willing to speak to the press on the cause of the inferno but the Assistant Inspector General of Police, A I G Zone six, Mr Baba Bolanta said so far, 18 persons were casualty “but no death has been recorded.”
-Vanguard