Nigeria miners struggled to breathe before 37 died: survivors

Survivors of a Nigerian disaster that saw 37 suspected illegal gold miners die while in the custody of a paramilitary civil defence group recounted their panic on Friday as they struggled to breathe inside the cell.

The incident triggered rioting in Minna, the capital of Niger state where the deaths occurred a day earlier, and police opened fire to disperse the crowds.

It was not immediately clear whether police were firing anti-riot pellets or live ammunition in Minna, where mobs blocked a main street and attacked a transport depot.

Nigeria's government suspended a civil defence commander and ordered a "full investigation" over Thursday's deaths.

But anger erupted among sympathisers as testimony from survivors suggested the miners may have suffocated in packed cells.

"We were jam-packed in the cell, no ventilation for us to breathe well," Dauda Shehu told journalists at a city hospital.

"All of a sudden we realised that we could not breathe and we were all scampering for where to get fresh air, we even appealed to them several times, banged the cell door but they refused to answer us.

"Several times, we raised alarm that some people are already dying because of suffocation, nobody answered us."

Another survivor, who asked not to be named, said he made it out alive because he was near the cell entrance where he could breathe better.

"We were screaming for help," he said, telling guards that "people are dying one after the other, they did not believe us".

A 40-second video shared online purporting to show the victims of Thursday's incident featured bodies of dozens of young men clad only in shorts.

Most of them appeared to be teenagers and were sprawled on the ground out in the open.

An intelligence report seen by AFP suggested the 37 died as a result of overcrowding and poor ventilation in the detention facility, though the civil defence initially blamed the deaths on disease.

Niger state, which is more than twice the size of Belgium, is rich in minerals and attracts thousands of artisanal miners -- most of them lured by the hope of striking gold.

The scramble for gold reserves dug up in illegal mines in Niger state is fuelling violence by criminal gangs, known locally as bandits, according to officials and experts.

The gangs tax the miners and demand a cut from the extracted ore as a levy to allow them access to the pits.

Niger state Governor Mohammed Umaru Bago, announced a nighttime curfew in the city to curtail the unrest.

The interior ministry said it had suspended Suberu Siyaka Aniviye, the state commander of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), while the incident is investigated.

"A full investigation will be conducted while the commandant under whose watch this happened remains suspended," Interior Minister Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo said in a statement.