By Adeyinka Adeniran
More body parts were on Friday recovered at the scene of Tuesday explosion at Old Bodija, Ibadan.
The Incident Manager, Prof Temitope Alonge made the disclosure in an interview with Corenews.
Alonge said, the parts have been sent to forensic experts for analysis.
He said it could not be confirmed yet if the recovered parts belong to the fatalities recovered already or a new one, thereby allaying fears of increased fatalities.
He ruled out the possibility of recovering more fatalities noting that search and rescue efforts which has entered day four with the ground zero almost levelled.
Alonge said “It is good news and bad news. The good news is that every patient has been accounted for. About 27 patients were seen at the J-Rapha hospital and all of them have been discharged, which is good.
“At the Redeemers hospital as well, I think we have only six people left. There’s only one person left in Tristate hospital, the other people have been discharged. We will go to the other hospitals where there are victims and we are sure things would have improved, that’s the good news.
“The bad news however is that, unfortunately, I have provided information to my Principal, that is the Executive Governor of Oyo State, Seyi Makinde that unfortunately, we recovered another body parts.
“The issue on ground is that, the moment you find a body part around an area, the chances are that probably it is coming from the same person. But since we can’t confirm or dispute until we have our forensic, we have just sent the entire details to the forensic Pathologist and so hopefully, we will be getting an answer, but not in the immediate, its not something they do within 24hours, it is going to take a little while because it will be a matter of DNA testing and trying to cross breed what has been found.
“Apart from that, the corpse of another dog was found. It has also been package for forensic for assessment by the veterinary Pathologist.”
He ruled out the possibilities of discovering more corpse based on how far the search and rescue efforts have gone.
“I don’t think that at this recovery phase we are going to found more bodies. Ofcourse, definitely not anyone alive because the entire place has been flattened. We are almost close to ground zero. In another 48hours, we should be at ground zero
“Again, we have not restricted our search to the epicentre alone. Our major concern and fear is the houses that are in bad shape. We have been trying to counsel and appeal to the occupants of those houses as to the reasons why they shouldn’t go into buildings that has not been given a clean bill of health.
“This is because the Nigeria Society of Engineers are pretty still busy working on the integrity test of the buildings and until they certify a house to be fit, I don’t think it is appropriate for them to go in.
“Well, quite a large number of them are complaining but there are a few number of them that refused to listen to good counsel and we note those houses and if there are consequences on account of what they have done, I believe that the government will be exonerated.
“Again, the integrity test is not only within the epicentre, it is extended beyond there”, Alonge added.
