Three-year-old kerosene explosion victim abandoned by his father in Calabar hospital

Three-year-old kerosene explosion victim, Ozillia Alex-Adjissi, has been allegedly abandoned by her father, Alex, at the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital (UCTH) in Calabar, Cross River State after losing her mother and brother to the explosion.

The case was one of several explosions reported earlier this year, when adulterated kerosene flooded Calabar.Ozillia’s mother and brother, who were also affected by, died of severe burns.

A Good Samaritan, Mrs. Theresa Etido-Umoren, who had gone to visit her relation in the Intensive Care Unit of the UCTH noticed Ozillia’s situation took it upon herself to bring the situation to the public.

Her outcry had attracted the attention of members of the Calabar-Municipal branch of the National Association of Seadogs (NAS), which intervened with a donation of N20, 000 and a follow up of another N50, 000 yesterday,The Nation reports.

Etido-Umoren said,

“I noticed her when I went to the ICU to visit my cousin who later died. I noticed this little girl, Ozillia, and I made inquiries about her. In the course of my inquiries I found out that nobody was caring for her.

“The hospital staff had taken her like their project. I had to go and see the head of Anaesthesia department and told her what I could do and they gave the go-ahead. The staff at the Anaesthesia department had taken up the responsibility of caring for her when they discovered that her father had stopped coming to see her.

“The child had been in the hospital for about two months without the father. The child’s mother and brother had died in the fire incident. So, I had to reach out to people and the first donation came from Seadogs.

“From what I understand, the father is from Benin Republic and the mother was from Akwa Ibom State but they were not legally married before this incident. In addition to the grief of losing his family, he was made to marry the corpse of the mother before the burial.”

Etido-Umoren urged members of the public to support the victim in order to complete the remaining surgeries.