‘Kebbi schoolgirls died after eating contaminated soup’

Two of the three school girls that died few days ago at a boarding school, Manga in Danko-Wasagu area of Kebbi State, died after eating contaminated vegetable soup, the investigative panel set up by the state government has revealed.

Salomi Hassan, Anne Ishaya and Eunice Musa, students of Girls Comprehensive Secondary School Manga in Danko Wasagu, died after eating the soup brought by the parents of one of their friend one Abigail Benjamin survived.

The panel, in its report submitted yesterday, said the students died before they could get medical attention at the hospital.

The Commissioner for Basic and Secondary Education, Mohammed Magawatta Aliero, said only two of the four girls who ate from the contaminated vegetable died. He said Eunice Musa died “naturally”. The permanent secretary in the Ministry of Education, Raffatu Hamanni, said a parent, Anne Issa, brought the soup for her daughter during the visiting hours.

“She kept the soup for two days without warming it again and three of her friends ate the contaminated vegetable with her. They ate the food and it killed them”, she said

The survivor, Abigail, it was learnt, was still at the intensive care unit of the Federal Medical Centre, Birnin Kebbi as of the time of filing this report.