POLICE INVESTIGATE NEW YEAR EXPLOSION THAT CLAIMED FIVE LIVES IN EBONYI

Reporter : AMECHI ODO

Police in Ebonyi State have launched investigations into the circumstances surrounding alleged cannon gun explosion that claimed five lives including that of a three year old baby in Akaeze in Ivo Local Government Area of the state.

The Police Public Relations Officer in Ebonyi State, Mrs. Loveth Oda, confirmed to journalists in Abakaliki that the incident occurred on new year day and affected about eleven persons while a house was burnt.

She explained that some of the victims were rushed to Alex Ekwueme Federal University Teaching Hospital Abakaliki where four of them later died as a result of first degree burns they sustained.

Radio Nigeria gathered that a locally made iron cannon loaded with gun powder and kept in a living room where a family was watching television allegedly exploded when it came in contact with fire.