By Daniel Tyokua
Five dead bodies have been recovered with three rescued over the weekend in Anguwan Hakimi community in Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC) in the Federal Capital Territory.
The victims were said to have been washed away late last Friday evening during a down pour when they were trying to cross the river which usually used to be a shallow flowing river.
An eyewitness who identified himself as Abdul, confirmed that the local divers who recovered the body, said two bodies were identified as natives with a child strapped on the back of one and two unidentified bodies.
However, three persons, two women and a man were rescued from a flood in Zone D, Gidan Mangoro, popularly known Anguwan Mada.
The victim who pleaded anonymity said she operates a shop in Karu market and that after closing from the market on Friday evening, she returned in the rain and since she did not drive, she wanted to cross over through Azhata community to Anguwan Mada on foot as bikes were not operating in the rain.
“When I got to the river, the volume of water was too much. It was flowing with speed so I joined others who were waiting and waited for the river to reduce.”
She narrated that after about an hour, it was getting dark and that the river had reduced a bit, so the first set of men crossed over then the women decided to hold their hands and cross too. She said just at the middle of the river one of the women was swept off her feet, she saw her being taken away swiftly so she decided to help. When she stretched her hand to hold the women, she grabbed her and both of them were carried away.
According to her, she didn’t know when her husband who was waiting for her on the other side of the river jumped into the river to rescue her and was equally carried by the river, but that the young men who were waiting for their family members along side her husband ran down stream and rescued all three of them from the side and dragged them out of the very muddy water.
When contacted, spokesperson for Federal Capital Territory Emergency Management Department, Mrs Nkech Isa, said,”We did not receive any distress call from that community. We are going there tomorrow (Monday).
