Abuja Blast: Student Victim Recounts How He Miraculously Survived

One of the victims ofWednesday's bomb blast at the EMAB Plaza, Wuse 2, Abuja, Michael Anyanacho has recounted his horrible ordeal on the day of the blast.
Narrating what happened on that fateful day to Premium Times from his hospital bed at the National Hospital, Abuja, Michael, a student of the Federal University of Technology, Minna, said when school is on break, he works as a phone repairer at the plaza, which is visited by hundreds of Abuja residents daily, to earn extra money for school.
On the day of the incident, towards the close of work, he said a customer had brought his hardware for his repair, so he told him to wait at his stand while he took the phone to a colleague of his on the other side of the plaza to help him with the repairs.

He explained, "The repairs were taking too long so I headed back to ask my customer to wait a bit longer. I was just two steps away from the plaza when I heard a loud sound. Before I could turn around, my hands and legs were on fire. I had to run as fast as my legs could take me, to put out the fire on my body and also to prevent my whole body from burning up.
"I could not tell if I was still on fire. All I knew was that my whole body was so hot and for a second I was restless. It was a friend of mine that held me and took me to the street were a man helped and took me to Maitama Hospital before I was referred to National Hospital."
Michael was one of the lucky ones who survived the blast at Emab plaza which killed 21 people who according to several witnesses were mostly petty street traders who hawk fruits like bananas and mangoes to visitors at the plaza.

Those who survived the blast were rushed to the Maitama Hospital from where some, like Michael, were taken to the National Hospital.
According tosome other victims who had recounted what happened said the suicide bomber was pretending to be drunkwhen he was stopped from going into the plaza through the exit gate.
Though no group has yet claimed responsibility for the blast,one of the suicide bomber was killed by the military while another was arrestedwith a second unexploded bomb packaged in a bag.