Jos bombing catastrophic – NEMA

The National Emergency Management Agency on Tuesday declared that the casualty rate after the twin bomb blasts at the Terminus Market in Jos, Plateau State could be best described as catastrophic.
The NEMA Coordinator for the North Central, Alhaji Abdulsalam Abubakar, told the News Agency of Nigeria: “I can’t tell you the figure of those killed by the blasts now because we are still evacuating bodies from the scene.
“The only thing I can say is that the casualty figure is very massive.
“It is a catastrophe.”
Abubakar’s reaction was in the aftermath of the incidence of two explosive devices, which exploded on Tuesday at the Terminus Market.
The first explosion had gone off in the centre of the market around 3.28pm, while the second followed about 14 minutes later.
Abubakar said both explosives were loaded in parked cars.
He said: “The bombers parked the cars and left the explosives to detonate.
“It was in the market and at a peak period.
“So, you can only imagine what could have happened.”
He said dead bodies and mutilated human parts were being deposited at the old and new Jos University Teaching Hospitals, as well as the Plateau Special Hospital.
He said: “There are also a massive number of people injured.
“We have conveyed some to various hospitals.”
He said that an idea of the number of casualties was only possible after the rescue operation.
Abubakar said: “We will have to first finish the operation and then visit the various hospitals.
“For now, we are only picking dead bodies all over the place.”
Chris Olapke, the Plateau State Commissioner of Police, who also spoke to NAN, confirmed that it was difficult to confirm the figure immediately.
Olakpe said: “We are still busy at the scene.
“We shall speak later.”
The Plateau State Government has also said it is “not in a hurry” to release the casualty figures from Tuesday afternoon’s two bomb blasts.
“The casualty figures have not been ascertained because the figures are still being collated from various hospitals,” the state’s Information Commissioner, Olivia Dazyam, told newsmen in Jos on Tuesday.
Dazyan however said the figures would be made available “as soon as possible”.
The commissioner said security agents had been drafted to the scene of the blasts and advised hospitals to accept the victims and begin treatment immediately.
She added: “Full investigation has begun on the incident.
“But we want people to be calm and pray, especially for the victims.
“We also want everyone to support the authorities in these trying times.”