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Ikeja Bomb Blast: Nigerians Mark 20 Years Remembrance

On 27 January 2002, Lagos State capital, Ikeja witnessed one of the biggest disasters that have ever hit the state and country.
20 years after, the memory is still fresh. Today Some Nigerians on twitter could not help but share their experience and honor the lives that were lost that day.
According to a lady with the handle name @HiamThiana
She wrote:
“On this day, 6 pm in 2002 there was a bomb blast at Ikeja. I was 2 years old, my parents stayed inside the oshodi barracks, we were all home when we heard the sound and our ceiling fell. I was lost for two weeks, a young boy carried me and I was brought back home.”
The Ikeja armory was located just north of the city center of Lagos and housed a large barracks and munitions depot. On January 27, a Sunday afternoon, a street market was set up at Ikeja when fire broke out. It spread to a munitions area and, at about 6 p.m., caused a huge explosion.
The explosions at a military depot in Lagos, trigger a stampede of fleeing people, during which more than 1,000 people are killed.
The blast immediately leveled an area of several square blocks and killed approximately 300 people, mostly soldiers and their families. The explosion was heard and felt 30 miles away and the tremors collapsed homes and broke windows as many as 10 miles away. Making matters worse, the explosion sent munitions debris raining down over a wide swath of the north side of Lagos. This caused fires to break out all over the city.
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The explosions and fires caused a general panic in part of the city. Lagos has a large canal, the Oke-Afa, running north to south through the city. On the other side of the canal is a banana plantation. Apparently, much of the panicking crowd thought they could seek refuge in the banana fields, but failed to remember the location of the canal in the dark. As thousands of people pushed toward the fields, at least 600 people drowned in the canal.
Stampedes in other parts of the city killed hundreds more, most of them children separated from their parents. Approximately 5,000 people were injured in total, overwhelming the city’s hospitals. Explosions continued throughout the night and into the following afternoon. Due to a lack of firefighters in Lagos, the blazes were not contained until more than 24 hours later. At least 12,000 people were left homeless by the disaster.
Today 27th of January, we remember all the victims of the 2002 Ikeja Bomb Blast.
20 years on, we can't forget one of the darkest days in the history of Nigeria and I am sending love to all the families of those affected by the disaster.
May their Souls Rest In Peace. 🙏🙏 pic.twitter.com/1hWvDPXpm8
— ♛ Chinaks Chris (@ChinaksTweets) January 27, 2022
On this day, 6 pm in 2002 there was a bomb blast at Ikeja.
I was 2 years old, my parents stayed inside the oshodi barracks, we were all home when we heard the sound and our ceiling fell.
I was lost for two weeks, a young boy carried me and I was brought back home.
— Thiana with an H (@HiamThiana) January 27, 2022
