The proprietor of the petrol refilling station in the Orazi area of the Obio/Akpor Local Government Area of Rivers State died on Wednesday from his injuries, and the government of Rivers State has lamented the deaths of five people after the shop exploded and injured numerous others.
The latest death statistic brings the total to five (two males and three females). Four people, including a father only known as Ayo and his daughter, had previously given up the ghost.
IREPORT247NEWS reported the incident two weeks ago that 17 people were burned in varying degrees.
According to the recent update, the shop owner, Chidi, had died on Wednesday night at the Rivers State University Teaching Hospital in Port Harcourt.
The family of one of the victims urged the state government to assist the other hospitalized patients, stating that the expense of treatment is severely hurting them.
“It is just that we have to go to the next level of care which is quite expensive in terms of dressing, high level of antibiotics with some costing up to N25,000 each person and each has to take like three bottles per day.”
He claimed that other from the first assistance provided by Obio/Akpor LGA Chairman Chijioke Ihunwo, the other hospitalized victims have not yet received any financial support.
“With the exception of the N1m provided to all the patients, the government is supposed to intervene but we don’t know,” he said, criticizing reports that the state government was giving the victims free medical care.
The Commissioner for Health, Dr. Adaeze Oreh, however, told reporters at her office in Port Harcourt on Thursday that the state government was paying for the treatment of all the victims of the disaster who were sent to the Rivers State University Teaching Hospital.
Oreh also verified the death of the fifth victim, who was the proprietor of the gas refilling station. She described the death as painful, but clarified that neither he nor any of the other victims died due to a lack of care because they received excellent care and rapid response.
“Regarding the recent tragic gas explosion that had multiple members of the Orazi community severely injured and some in very critical condition, last week, I accompanied the Deputy Governor to visit the patients at the Rivers State University Teaching Hospital.
“We saw all the patients on admission and prayed that all the patients who had survived till that point would still be with us today.”
However, the commissioner stated that despite the fact that some of the victims had “such extensive burns,” the authorities remained optimistic that they would survive.
“The Rivers State University Teaching Hospital was charged to ensure that every treatment that was necessary from that moment will be borne by the government and no additional burden placed on the families to raise funds for either the medicines or whatever infusion or other commodities that are needed.
“So, for the individual who passed on, the individual did not pass on because of the lack of care or lack of access to the necessary medicines; but purely because if you know how burns work, they deplete the surface area and the individual loses so massively that even with the most advanced treatment, sometimes, it is difficult for the body to recover sufficiently and survive.
“So, we mourn that loss but I want to reassure the public that the government is doing everything to ensure that those who are alive and have survived have access to the care that they need. Government is bearing that responsibility.”