Flood Sweeps Away Two Children In Minna, Corpses Recovered

Flood Sweeps Away Two Children In Minna, Corpses Recovered In Drainage.
Girl’s body found with another boy five kilometres from the scene.
NSEMA to visit the family for more investigation.

Tragedy struck in Minna, Niger State, on Tuesday as the bodies of two children, including a nine-year-old girl, were discovered in a drainage after a heavy rainfall and severe flooding hit the city.

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EKO HOT BLOG reports that residents of the Tunga community initially believed only one child, the young girl, had been swept away by the flood. However, when her father arrived to identify her body, he found another male child who also lost his life in the incident.

PUNCH Online gathered that the girl, the only daughter among her parents’ three children, was sent to the Tunga market, about two kilometres from their home, to buy soup ingredients. She was accompanied by her elder brother, aged 11.

Despite early morning rainfall, the siblings left home during a brief pause in the downpour. However, the rain soon resumed heavily, causing severe flooding that overwhelmed the drainage systems and rendered roads impassable.

Eyewitnesses reported that while returning from the market, the young girl slipped and fell into a flooded drainage. Her brother reportedly cried out, desperately calling on passersby to help save his sister, but no one could intervene as the water level had risen dangerously and the current was too strong.

The flood carried the girl several kilometres away before her lifeless body was recovered in a tunnel along Mandela Street, alongside the body of another young boy believed to have also drowned.

When contacted, Niger State Emergency Management Agency (NSEMA) spokesman, Hussaine Ibrahim, expressed shock and said the agency would visit the bereaved family to gather further details.

“The agency is not yet fully briefed, but our team will visit the girl’s family in Tunga to verify the incident,” Ibrahim said.