3 escape death as truck rams into mosque in Niger…

A child and two other persons narrowly escaped death, yesterday, as a truck rammed into a mosque in Suleja, Niger State.

The incident occurred about 6:00 a.m around the popular Babangida Market, Suleja shortly after the early morning prayers.

The truck involved in the accident was loaded with powdered milk and skidded off the road while the driver was trying to manoeuver a portion of the bad road in the town.

An eyewitness, Abubakar Saleh, said the accident occurred shortly after most worshippers had dispersed from the mosque.

The trailer fell on the back section of the mosque where women and children usually pray.

However, three people, including a child, were trapped in the ruins and subsequently sustained injuries and were rushed to Suleja General Hospital.

One hundred and fifty-two stranded Nigerians in Tripoli, Libya, arrived in the country aboard Al Buraq Air Boeing 737-800, at the Cargo Wing of the Murtala Muhammad International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos, yesterday.

Of the Assisted Voluntary Returnees, 54 were adult females and 10 were female children. Others were 73 adult males, some with medical cases and 15 male infants.

While receiving the returnees, the Director-General of the National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA, Mustapha Ahmed, explained that the International Organisation for Migration, IOM and Nigeria Embassy in Libya collaborated to assist the stranded Nigerians back after their failed attempts to cross over the Mediterranean Sea into Europe.

Ahmed, who was represented by the agency’s Chief Executive General Service, Mrs Adenike OgunKunle, said: “The returnees, who arrived aboard Al Buraq Air Boeing 737-800 with registration number 5A-DMG landed at about 1638hours.”

Other agencies on the ground at the cargo wing were officials of Nigeria Immigration Service; the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons, NAPTIP; the Refugee Commission; Nigeria Police and the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, FAAN.