The lifeless body of a nine-year-old girl and an unidentified boy have been recovered from a flooded drainage system in the Tunga area of Minna, Niger State, after a torrential downpour.
What began as a routine errand ended in tragedy on Tuesday when the lifeless bodies of children were recovered.
Naija News learnt that the victims were swept away by fast-moving floodwaters following hours of rainfall that inundated roads and drainages in the state capital.
According to residents, the girl, said to be the only daughter of her Edo-born parents, had been sent alongside her elder brother to purchase soup ingredients from the Tunga market, about two kilometres from their home.
Though it had been drizzling all morning, the rain paused briefly before the children left home, carrying an umbrella. But soon after, the heavens opened again, this time with greater intensity.
“Everywhere was flooded. Cars had to park by the roadside. The water took over the streets and drains,” The PUNCH quoted a resident as saying.
It was while returning from the market that the girl reportedly slipped and fell into a drainage channel that had been overwhelmed by the flood.
Her elder brother, 11, reportedly screamed for help as she was swept away, but onlookers were powerless against the current.
The boy rushed home to alert their parents, sparking a frantic search that ended in heartbreak.
Later that day, the girl’s body was found in a tunnel on Mandela Road, over five kilometres from where she was swept away. Shockingly, another child’s body, believed to be a young boy, was discovered beside her.
The girl’s father, who had been called to identify her remains, was stunned to discover that the tragedy claimed more than one life.
“He went there to identify his daughter and met the body of another boy beside her,” a neighbour told reporters.
When contacted on Tuesday night, the spokesman for the Niger State Emergency Management Agency (NSEMA), Hussaine Ibrahim, told newsmen that the agency had not yet received an official report of the incident but expressed deep shock.
“The agency is not aware of the disaster, but my people will visit the home of the girl at Tunga tomorrow to meet with the parents,” he said.
Residents of the Tunga area have continued to express grief and concern over the poor state of drainage in the community, calling for urgent intervention to prevent a recurrence.
Meanwhile, casualties recorded in the dreadful flood incident that happened recently in Mokwa, Mokwa Local Government Area of Niger State, have been confirmed to be 207 and over 500 injured from two affected communities.
Naija News reports that the figures were revealed by the Director General of the Niger State Emergency Management Agency (NSEMA), Abdullahi Baba Arah, during a media briefing in Minna on the agency’s disaster response activities across the state.
Arah said the number of people still missing could not yet be determined, describing the disaster as one of the worst in recent history.
To support those rendered homeless by the flood, the NSEMA boss said the state government disbursed ₦500,000 to each affected household to help them secure new accommodation.
“In addition to the cash support, we have also distributed food items and other relief materials to ease the hardship being faced by the victims,” Arah stated.
As part of proactive measures, Arah disclosed that NSEMA had flagged off its annual flood sensitisation and early warning campaign across all eight emirate councils in Niger State.
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