The horror inside the Niger State command of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC, is getting clearer, and it is worse than first reported.
11-year-old miner say they were forced to sleep standing, sprayed with gas, and left to die in overcrowded cell
65 Men Crammed Into One Cell
What officials initially described as seven survivors is now 14, according to children who walked out of the death cell alive.
Eleven-year-old survivor Sanusi Khalid, a primary five pupil taken home directly from the facility by his parents, said only 14 people survived out of 65 locked inside a single cell.
“We were transported to a cell where 15 people were already there. 43 of us were arrested from a different mining site, and we were added to the 17 people already inside, resulting in 65 people crammed into a single cell,” Khalid recounted.
He said there were five cells in the compound. One held 18 women. Three were empty. All the men and boys were forced into one.
“When we complained about the overcrowding, we were instructed to sleep standing up.”
Sprayed, Locked And Abandoned
The ordeal turned deadly around 10 pm after rain stopped, survivors said. The heat became unbearable. Men began fighting for space to stand. Some fainted.
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“We begged for water but were ignored,” Khalid said.
Then, he said, an officer opened the door and sprayed a substance from a canister into the packed cell.
“Those who were dying were in such extreme agony that they began biting the people next to them,” he said, showing severe bite marks on his arms, back and waist. He said he now suffers head and chest pains.
By 10 pm, about seven people were already dead. Officers, he alleged, threatened to shoot anyone who spoke, fired a warning shot, secured the door with an additional padlock and left.
Only four of the 14 survivors could walk out. The rest were unconscious.
Saved By A Toilet Door
Another 11-year-old survivor, Abdullahi, corroborated the account. He said it was his first day at the mining site. He went there to raise money for school because his parents are poor.
“After observing the Isha prayer, the cell door was opened, and more people were forced inside. When the group complained about the lack of space, the personnel told them to shut up,” he said.
“An officer came and sprayed a substance into the room, causing people to faint. We were held for three days. We were denied food and water.”
Abdullahi said he survived because an older detainee pushed him, Sanusi and two other boys into a small toilet compartment and shut the door before the spray filled the cell.
“The older man saved us from the worst of the spray. Everyone who that thing was sprayed on fainted. Even now, I am currently experiencing chest pain, and it may be from the little that I inhaled.”
