A Golf car conveying the fleeing residents was said to have collided with another car, leading to the death of five persons including a young boy while eight others were wounded.
Confirming the incident, the zonal Information Officer of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Ibrahim Farinloye, said the injured persons had been taken to the hospital by the personnel of the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) in Damaturu.
Farinloye advised the people to desist from panic-travel to reduce the carnage being experienced along the routes. He observed that the roads were presently congested, adding that drivers could resort to over-speeding and overloading to make quick profit due to the influx of the people to the various motorparks in the metropolis.
He enjoined the people to rather move into primary and secondary schools which he said had been designated for the displaced persons in the metropolis, stressing that "NEMA and other international humanitarian agencies were ready to provide adequate provisions for their safety and necessary human support materials for the time that normal situation will be restored."
Eight other travellers were seriously injured. They were trying to escape from the running battle between the soldiers and the Islamic fundamentalists.
Members of the Islamic sect had twice in two days during this week bombed JTF patrol vans in the Borno State capital.
In the encounter, there were claims of civilian casualties who died in the crossfire. The residents had no option than to embark on mass exodus from Maiduguri to save their lives. The state government had been appealing to residents to stay.
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