One of the 72 non-indigenes dumped at Onitsha, Anambra State, in the wee hours of July 24 by officials of the Lagos State Government has died while three others are now unconscious, according to the Lagos-based Vanguard newspaper.

The paper which reported the development this morning attributed the information to one of the caregivers deployed to assist the deportees by the the Nigerian Red Cross Society (NRCS).

“A member of the NRCS and Education Officer attached to the Onitsha South Local Government Education Authority, Mrs. Nneoma Judith Nwora, disclosed that one of the deportees died Friday from a protracted illness,” according to Vanguard.

Mrs. Nwora was further quoted as disclosing that of the five deportees (two males and three females) still in the temporary camp set up for them in Onitsha, three are unconscious at the moment.

She however said that “some Rev. Sisters from nearby Madonna Mercy Convent had indicated interest to come and pick them for feeding and medical treatment until they recovered and were fit to go home.”

The deportation has sparked heated debates among Nigerians on citizen rights and led to angry exchanges between the governments of Lagos and Anambra after the latter wrote to President Goodluck Jonathan seeking federal government investigation of the matter and the meting out of appropriate sanctions to the former.

•NAN photo shows some of the deportees.