All students from Bethlehem Girls College, which was devastated by the Sunday gas explosion at Abule Ado, are safe, the Catholic Archbishop of Lagos State, has said.
All the students were rescued with the help of the first respondents and some that were injured were rushed to the hospitals, according to Alfred Martins, the Archbishop said in an emailed statement.
“The other students have been released to their parents and gone to their different homes. I want to state that all students of the school were reported safe. Those who sustained injuries were promptly attended to in various hospitals within the environments,” Martins said.
The Archbishop also noted that the education department of the school along with the administrators of other Archdiocesan schools will see how the students of the college can be accommodated in the other schools so that their education is not disrupted.
Henrietta Alokha, the administrator of the school, an unidentified female security guard and other staff who died in the process of recusing the students were commended for their brave act.
The impact of the explosion destroyed the staff quarters, administrative building, the refectory, hostel buildings except the convent housing the nuns in charge of the school.
The Archbishop commended the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA) Nigeria Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), the Red Cross, and various security agencies for their prompt response in ensuring that the situation did not get worse.
“We are grateful to Babajide Sanwo-Olu, the governor of Lagos state for his call to express the sympathy of the government and for setting up a Committee to investigate issues surrounding the explosion. We also wish to commiserate with the families of all those who died in this sad incident and pray for the repose of the souls of the departed, the quick healing of the injured and those who lost their properties,” he said.
The explosion was triggered by a truck that hit gas bottles stacked up in a gas processing plant near a pipeline in Lagos that occurred in the early hours of Sunday morning, the statement explained.
