When Borye Kime crept back into the fishing town of Baga in northeast Nigeria in the early hours of Monday, a weak moon shone on a grisly sight. "It is corpses everywhere," he said.
"The whole town smells of decomposing bodies," the 40-year-old fisherman added.
Kime was one of thousands who fled across the border to Chad when Boko Haram fighters stormed his hometown of Baga in Nigeria's far northeast on January 3.
In the days that followed, the town and at least 16 settlements nearby were burnt to the ground.
What happened in the remote north of Borno state is gradually emerging, lending weight to fears that it may be the deadliest attack yet in a six-year insurgency that has killed over 13,000.
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On Saturday, another man, Yanaye Grema, said he was forced to hide for three days while the militants ransacked Baga. He eventually fled into the bush under the cover of darkness on Tuesday.
"For five kilometres, I kept stepping on dead bodies," he said.
Nigeria's government has claimed that troops were "actively pursuing" the militants as part of an operation to take back control of Baga.
But Kime said there was "not a single soldier in Baga". Others reported seeing troops abandon their posts when Boko Haram attacked, leaving the fighting to civilian vigilantes.
"The vigilantes fought for some time but withdrew because they could not match Boko Haram's heavy weapons," said Mala Kyari Shuwaram, a local chief from Baga who also made it to Dubuwa.
Many of those who escaped made it to islands on Lake Chad. Chief Shuwaram said about 1000 people, including the four soldiers spent three days on the Lake.
The panicked mass evacuation split families and has increased pressure on already over-stretched local authorities in the border areas of neighbouring Chad, Niger and Cameroon.
With Boko Haram still holding Baga, hundreds of people are still stranded on the islands, exposed to the cold seasonal wind, the Harmattan, and without food.
