The Lagos State Emergency Management Agency on Friday discovered huge quantities of carbide at the Ogba Junior Grammar School, where 13 pupils had fainted after inhaling a poisonous gas on Thursday.
The school has been shut and the affected pupils taken to the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital Ikeja.
General Manager of LASEMA, Mr. Shabi, told that he discovered the carbide, which is suspected to be the source of the gas, when he paid a visit to the school on Friday.
He said, “I was at the school and we discovered that the school had a poultry and that they also had large quantities of carbide. Carbide is a strong chemical which can be poisonous when it reacts with other substances. We were informed by the school authorities that they use the carbide to line the tracks on the field during sports. We have taken samples and should come out with our report in a few days.”
Our correspondents, who visited the hospital on Saturday were not allowed to talk to the students, due to the absence of the Chief Medical Director, Prof. David Adewale Oke.
The Community Chairman of Oluwole-Ogba, Ojodu Local Council Development Area, Mr. Sharafadeen Bashorun, however told that the poisonous gas could have emanated from a photo lab close to the school.
Bashorun said the chemicals in the lab were still intact and could be the source of the second explosion.
He said, “My suspicion is that the photo lab that was locked during the first explosion in November still has all the materials and chemicals intact.”
An owner of a shop in Ogba Shopping Arcade told one of our correspondents that the gas couldn’t have originated from the arcade.
She said, “I find it puzzling that the gaseous substance was said to have come from the arcade, and yet, I did not perceive any strange smell. It could not have been from here (the arcade), because the photo laboratory has been sealed off since last year.”
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