Five persons, including a woman, were feared dead in what official Police statement said was a gas cylinder explosion at a storey building located at No. 1, Aba Road, opposite Winners Kid Academy, SabonGari area of Fagge local government council of Kano State.
The affected building houses a welding workshop owned by 25-year-old Vincent Ezekwe, an indigene of Enugu State. Ezekwe’s body was recovered among the dead.
The explosion led to the collapse of the storey building.
Kano Commissioner of Police Sama’ila Shu’aibu Dikko said he recovered four bodies when he visited the scene of the explosion.
The death toll may increase, according to eyewitnesses.
Several people, who suffered severe injuries in the explosion, are on admission at undisclosed hospitals.
Children were among those injured in the blast which occurred around 8:45 am.
As of the time of filing this report, search and rescue officials are removing the rubbles to rescue or recover those trapped.
Police anti-bomb squad and other security agents were at the scene of the incident investigating the cause of the blast.
The police commissioner, in a statement by Kano police spokesman, Abdullahi Haruna Kiyawa -a Superintendent of Police (SP), said: “A report was received that there was a sound of suspected explosion at Aba by Court Road, Sabon Gari Quarters, Kano.”
“On receipt of the report, the Commissioner of Police, Kano State Command, Sama’ila Shu’aibu Dikko, immediately led the command’s combined team of Explosive Ordnance Disposal, Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear Defence (EOD-CBRN) and Operation Puff Adder to the scene of the explosion and cordoned off the area.
“Four victims (three males and one female), including a Wielder, named Mr. Ejike Vincent, were removed and rushed to Murtala Mohammed Specialist Hospital Kano, where a Medical Doctor certified them dead.
“Preliminary Forensic Analysis revealed a suspected Gas Cylinder Explosion with the recovery of Chemicals. Rescue Mission in Progress.”