Parents of the students of Government Science Secondary School, Kankara, Katsina State, are worried that their abducted children could face hunger, as their captors may not be able to feed them three days after they were taken.
Hundreds of students were removed from their dormitories and herded into the bush Friday night by gunmen who shot and wounded one of the police officers guarding the school.
Authorities said the school has over 800 students at the time of the attack while only about 300 have escaped.
One of the parents, who spoke to Dateline Nigeria, said they were afraid that their children could starve and die in the bush, given that their abductors had no food supply to cater for them.
The father, who does not want to be named, said their fear was based on the account of his sister’s son who escaped and returned to the community on Sunday.
He said the boy, who is now being treated in hospital, told them that the gunmen had not been feeding them at their hideout, suspected to be in neighbouring Zamfara State.
“He said they were not fed because the little food that the bandits had, which was the spaghetti and noodles they stole from the school, was not even enough to go round before it finished.
“He told us that they first camped them at a place near the border with Zamfara before moving deeper into the bush where they were broken up into groups and sent to different camps.
“The gunmen constantly beat them up and shoot in the air to stop them from fleeing.
“When the boy returned, he was immediately taken to the hospital and placed on drip because he was dehydrated and hungry and has injuries and thorns in his feet,” he said.
Nigeria’s authorities Sunday said they had located the whereabouts of the students, assuring that they would be rescued.
The Minister of Defence, Bashir Magashi, said they have mapped out “strategies” and would do the rescue “without any collateral damage”.
