Nigerian mobile operator bids calm fears of 'killer numbers'

LAGOS (AFP) - A Nigerian mobile telephone firm sought to quash a widespread rumour that users answering calls from two "killer numbers" had been struck dead on the spot.

Over the weekend Nigeria, was gripped by reports that calls from the numbers 0802 311 1999 and 0802 222 5999 had slain subscribers who answered them.

"This is an absolute hoax ... ignore it," Emeka Oparah, a spokesman for V-mobile, the country's second largest GSM provider, said in a statement.

"We wish to state categorically that from an engineering point of view, it is absolutely impracticable, and there is no such record whatsoever anywhere in the world, that anyone has died or can die from merely receiving or making a phone call on GSM or any other telecommunications platform", it said Monday.

While the first number belongs to a V-mobile subscriber, the second number is not registered on the network, said Oparah.

An AFP reporter attempted to call both numbers but was unable to get through to anyone. It was not clear if this was a result of Nigeria's poor network coverage or of the lines being cut off.

Newspaper and radio reports at the weekend advised Nigerians not to answer calls originating from those numbers, as a precaution.

On Monday a caller to a Lagos radio talk show insisted that his neighbour received a call on one of the numbers and died the following day, but the police have dismissed the matter as hoax.

"We are investigating the source of the rumour. We shall get to the bottom of the matter very soon," national police spokesman Chris Olakpe said.