Developing Story :Gambia: More Gas Explosion Victims Die
Nov 06,2006 00:00
by
editor
Residents of Kanifing Estate continued to mourn their loved ones, as three of the 12 remaining hospitalised victims of a tragic gas explosion in Kanifing Estate, passed away on Sunday and Monday at the Royal Victoria Teaching Hospital (RVTH) in Banjul.The trio were identified as Pa Amat Jagne, Volunteer Management Officer and Branch Development Coordinator of the Gambia Red Cross Society, Modou Lamin Touray, fondly called Benji, and Demba Ndow, alias Pa Ndow. They were reported to have died of severe burns, sustained in a fatal gas explosion, which occured on October 30th at the residence of one Ousman Nje.
Their deaths came barely a day after the bodies of Mustapha Kanteh and Ousman Bidwell- two of the gas explosion victims were laid to rest at the Kanifing Estate cemetery. The number of deaths has now reached five.
Mr Pa Amat Jagne, 42, was a seasoned and an outstanding member of the Gambia Red Cross Society. He is survived by two wives and children. He was a former student of the Management Development Institute.
Demba Ndow, 48, was a former part-time Lecturer in Financial Management, and a Senior Accountant at the Gambia Public Transport Co-rporation. He is survived by a wife and children. The third deceased, Modou Lamin Touray, 32, was survived neither by a wife nor children.
Hundreds of residents of Kanifing Estate, colleagues, volunteers of the Gambia Red Cross Society, relatives, and friends of the deceased, flocked the residences of the trio to extend condolence and sympathy to the bereaved families. Vehicles lined-up the streets of Kanifing Estate, where many people are still recovering from the throes of the incident
Religious leaders, including Imam Baba Leigh of Kanifing Estate, led huge congregation in offering prayers to the corpses, before they were finally laid to rest simultaneously near the graves of late Mustapha Kanteh and the late Ousman Bidwell.
The severity of the incident is such that one can hardly identify each of the victims in their hospital beds, because of the gruesome and dreadful nature of the burns. Many continued to express concern about the conditions of the remaining nine victims at the RVTH.
One of the residents of the area told the Daily Observer that society has a "moral responsibility" to save the lives of the admitted victims by ensuring that they have access to well-advanced treatment. "Even if we have to take them overseas, it worths it because they died on a genuine cause. They died because they want to save their neighbours and neighbourhood," he said emphatically.