No fewer than 12 people sustained various degrees of burns as a result of the explosion that rocked Kara Market located along Atani Road in Ogbaru Local Government Area of Anambra State near the popular head bridge in the commercial city of Onitsha. News Express, which was among the first to report the story early Wednesday afternoon, had put the number of injured at seven.

While News Express attributed the explosion to a petrol bomb based on investigations at the scen of the blast, Anambra Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Mr. Ali Okechukwu, said that the explosion was as a result of a fuel stored in a jerry can.

In his words, “The explosion was not from bomb blast as people are speculating. A jerry can of petrol that was brought to the settlement exploded and some people sustained various degrees of burns.

“They were taken to various hospitals and are currently receiving treatment. No death was recorded.”

Bt corroborating the News Express account, the leader of the settlement, Mr, Sabo Mohammed, said the settlement might have resulted from a suspected improvised bomb allegedly brought into the market by an unknown person.

He said: “A boy walked into a restaurant with three jerry cans and demanded for food but left almost immediately without even eating half of the food and left the jerry cans behind.

“Few minutes after he left the restaurant, one of the jerry cans exploded leaving many people injured. The victims got severe burns that one cannot even hold their skin to carry them to the hospital.”

Some of the victims, News Express gathered, are recuperating at Good News Hospital and Chioma Clinic, both located in Ogbaru, Toronto Hospital and Borromeow Hospital in Onitsha as well as Asaba General Hospital in Delta State.

One of the victims, Mrs. Mariam Mohammed, who was being treated at Good News Hospital Ogbaru, said she was busy at the back of the restaurant washing dishes when the explosion took place.

She said: “As I washing plates at the backyard, I suddenly heard a loud deafening noise. The next thing I saw wad fire spreading everywhere. Substances from the fire landed on people who were in the restaurant eating and those standing nearby. It was then I realised that I was also affected before people came to help me.”

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