Nigeria names panel to probe deaths of 37 miners held in detention

Police have set up an investigation into the deaths, which the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) initially blamed on an outbreak of disease, the interior ministry announced Saturday.

Thirty-seven young men were found dead inside a crowded cell in Minna, the capital of central Niger state, on Thursday after their arrest on suspicion of illegal gold-mining by the NSCDC.

Survivors recounted being crammed in the cell with poor ventilation, and one said a substance that stung their throats and noses was sprayed into the cell before the door was slammed shut. 

They said their calls for help were ignored.  A person arranges the bodies of the illegal mining suspects arrested in mining raids who reportedly died while in detention, at Minna General Hospital in Niger State.

Nigeria miners struggled to breathe in cell before 37 died: survivors

Report to determine responsibility

The panel, announced on Saturday, includes a retired senior state intelligence officer, a medical expert, a human rights activist and a miners' association. 

It has two weeks to finalise investigations and submit its report which should determine "responsibility, complicity, negligence, and misconduct", said minister Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo in a statement.

He added that 20 NSCDC officers and guards who were involved in the arrests and detention of the miners had been suspended.

Their boss was suspended on Friday, after President Bola Tinubu ordered an urgent, "full and transparent investigation" over the deaths.

He said he would not tolerate deaths caused by "official negligence, abuse, dereliction of duty".

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Tragedy 'could have been avoided'

Residents in Minna and informal miners have been protesting over the deaths, demanding justice.

Several cars were vandalised on Thursday evening and videos also appeared to show armed police officers opening fire in the streets.

Amnesty International rights group condemned the use of lethal force on protestors, noting that at least two persons were reportedly killed. 

It also called for the independent enquiry into the 37 deaths and said "parents and relatives of victims must be given all the support to access justice and adequate remedies".

“We believe this tragedy could have been avoided and that the situation was very poorly handled,” Isa Sanusi, director of Amnesty International Nigeria, told RFI.

He stressed that the victims were “young people” and that most “had not even reached adulthood”.

Even if they were suspected of mining illegally, “they should have been arrested and detained in accordance with the law”, he said.

The incident is "further evidence that policing methods in Nigeria are close to being unlawful and run contrary to respect for human rights".

Methanol-tainted drink deaths

In a separate incident at least 49 people have died and 182 have fallen sick after drinking alcohol suspected to contain methanol, the country's food and drug regulator announced Saturday.

The deaths occurred in three districts of Nigeria's southwestern Ondo state after victims consumed a locally brewed mixture known as "Monkey Tail".

The first cases were reported earlier this month and the toll has gradually been rising.

Authorities have arrested 15 people in connection with production and sale of the drink, the agency said.

(with newswires)