Residents were thrown into a state of pandemonium as explosion rocked Benin City, Edo state capital, Saturday.
The explosion which occurred in the morning was said to have rattled six buildings around Dumez Street, off Benin Auchi Road, Benin City leaving devastating impacts in its wake.
As of the time of this report, the number of casualties has not been confirmed, but emergency responders including men of the Nigerian police have been mobilized to the scene of the explosion.
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Efforts to ascertain the cause of the explosion are underway, however, an eyewitness claimed the explosion occurred while a man who manufactures bomb was carrying out some testing on its deadly wares.
Speaking on the explosion, a landlord who gave his name as Pastor David Iginua whose house was also affected by the explosion, said he heard a very loud sound that early morning of Friday and he decided to go out to find out what it was all about.
David said to his bewilderment, he saw the glasses on the windows of his building were all shattered on the floor.
“As I sat there, all of a sudden, i heard a terrific sound. I looked, ran inside, I didn’t see what happened. So I have to come outside and I started discovering things.
“I started looking for where the sound came from but just to discover that a heavy smoke was coming out from the man compound.
“From the rumour we are hearing is that the man use to manufacture bombs.
“And it is like he tested it inside his well. Assuming he brought it out, it would have finished the community.
“The way this house shook, everybody came out to say how their houses shook,” he said.
The other landlord who lives in No 3, Dumez Street, just a building to where the explosion took place but failed to give his name, said the explosion shook the very foundation of his storey building while broken glasses from the windows were visible everywhere.
Another resident of the area who spoke on the condition of anonymity said the community before now has been very peaceful while the man who lives where the explosion took place has been handed over to the police.
Details later…
