A pregnant woman and 10 other people on Wednesday in Abuja suffered varying degrees of burns from a gas explosion that occurred at Rosy Restaurant Area 11.
The pregnant woman, who simply identified herself as Ajayi who works at the restaurant, said that they were all going about their normal businesses when the gas suddenly exploded.
Ajayi, who is three month pregnant, said that she needed to go for scanning to ascertain the condition of her baby.
The explosion affected her face, legs and hands.
The victims who were immediately taken to Asokoro general hospital suffered some 40 to 50 degree of burns.
Rachael Awu, another attendant at the restaurant and one of the victims of the explosion, said she was attending to her duty when the explosion rocked the restaurant
“I was serving customers and I went to pack meal, as I looked back I just heard the explosion.
“The fire started from the back of the restaurant where one of the cylinders was stationed. I was facing outside and when I tried to look back, I saw fire from the explosion.
”One of the gas cylinder was stationed outside the restaurant in the open space, and there is another gas inside where we used to put meat.
She said that the gas cylinder outside was the one that aided the fire which ignited the gas cylinder inside the restaurant.
Another victim, who simply identified himself as Promise, said that the explosion was sudden, adding that he was attending to customers when he heard a loud noise.
Dr Nnabuchi Chidi, Acting managing Director, Asokoro Hospital said that the hospital would refer some of the victims to the National Hospital.
Dr Aminu Mile, the Acting Managing Director, Health and Human Services Secretary (HHSS), Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) while on a visit to the victim, said the circumstances surrounding the explosion would be unraveled.
He said that the HHSS was already doing his own part to help victims of the explosion, adding that everything would be done to help the victims.
