Friday, October 18, 2024, would ever remain a sad day for students of Good Shepherd Catering School, Orokonuoha, in Ebonyi Local Government Area of Ebonyi State.

The gas explosion disrupted what should have been a normal day of catering studies at the school that is owned by the Catholic Diocese of Abakaliki.

On this fateful day, tragedy struck as a result of gas explosion that occurred at the kitchen section of the school, resulting in 10 students sustaining severe burns from the inferno, in addition to various degrees of injuries.

The affected victims were rushed to Alex-Ekwueme Federal University Teaching Hospital, Abakaliki for medical attention. However, 24 hours later, it was gathered that one of the affected students was confirmed dead by the hospital authorities.

Nigeria Police

The Ebonyi State Police Command has commenced full scale investigation to ascertain the cause of the ugly incident.

The Police Public Relations Officer, Joshua Ukandu, disclosed this during an interview with New Telegraph Newspaper in Abakaliki.

Ukandu noted that the Command responded swiftly when the incident occurred, saying, ?We made concise efforts by rescuing the victims and taken them to the Alex-Ekwueme Teaching Hospital for proper medical treatment.

?The Command has equally commenced full scale investigation into the matter to unveil the circumstances leading to the ugly incident.?

Cause

The school authorities are yet to make any formal statement on the matter as efforts made to get their reaction proved abortive.

Investigations revealed that the explosion occurred when one of the students cooking in the kitchen section of the school with a gas cylinder was alleged to have answered calls on her cellphone while cooking.

Findings also revealed that the victims who are aged between 12 and 19, were in the middle of their catering studies when the incident took place.

A visit to the Accident and Emergency Unit of the hospital revealed that five of the victims are on life supporting machines.

Lamentation

One of the victims, 17 years old Chisom Nwizi, is the daughter of Mr Emmanuel Nwizi, a staff of Nigeria Television Authority (NTA) Abakaliki. In an interview with news- men at hospital, Nwizi said that his daughter sustained severe burns from the disaster.

According to him, ?I got a call around 6.30am that the Ebonyi Gas Explosion: kitchen section of Good Shepherd Catering School has been engulfed by fire and I rushed to the place immediately because my daughter is one of the students.

?When I got there I saw students discussing in groups, one of them said that it is the carelessness of one of the students that if one of students didn?t enter the kitchen with her phone, the incident wouldn?t have happened.

?I moved into the school proper and was told that the victims have been taken to police clinic, I quickly rushed to police clinic and was informed that they have been taken to the Accident and Emergency Unit of Alex Ekwueme Federal University Teaching Hospital, Abakaliki (AE-FUTHA).

He further narrated, ??when I got there my brother, it was very severe and it affected 10 students. They are still here in AE-FUTHA with us, out of this 10, five are still on life supporting machine till now.

?My daughter sustained severe burns, I have hope that she will survive, the school authority is doing well, they have been trying since the incident occurred, they have not asked any parent to bring a dime.?

Nwizi commended the efforts of the Reverend Sisters managing the catering school, maintaining that they have remained committed and passionate since the incident occurred. (New Telegraph)

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