No mass burial for Abuja blast victims

Abuja - Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Bala Mohammed, said there would be no mass burial for victims of Monday’s explosion in Nyanya, Abuja.

Mohammed said that the corpses of the victims would be released to their families.

He made this known while speaking to newsmen shortly after visiting some victims of the blast at Asokoro District Hospital in Abuja.

He said the corpses would be released to their owners without any delay after proper identification.

"We will give them befitting burial they deserved. There will be no mass burial but we will do everything possible so that they will be identified by their relations’’, he said.

Mohammed added that the six-month old baby who survived the blast, and receiving treatment at the Asokoro hospital, would be re-united with her mother, who is also receiving treatment at Wuse District Hospital.

He said FCTA would foot the medical bills of all those injured in the unfortunate incident and directed the FCT Secretary of Health, Dr Ademola Onakomaiya, to refer serious cases to specialist hospitals.

He condemned the attack and described it as wicked and heartless.

The police confirmed the death of 71 people and 124 injured in the blast.

Onakomaiya, however, told the minister that one victim died on Tuesday morning at the Wuse District Hospital, bringing the number of the dead to 72.