Nine young girls have lost their lives on a canoe when they were about to cross River Galma Valley around Tudun Iya in Wucicciri Ward of Zaria local government area of Kaduna State.
Survivors from the tragedy: Fatima Idris and Fa’iza
Abdullahi, said the incident happened on Friday at about 12 noon when they were
returning from Hayin Sarkin Fito shortly after a heavy rainfall.
The survivors said, “We boarded a canoe 16 of us, when it
was about to reach the shore, it started sinking down. Some of us that were
able to swim, swum alongside the Canoe driver while the remaining nine drowned
in the water.”
Speaking on the incident, the Village head of Tudun Iya,
Alhaji Muhammadu Musa, described it as a big tragedy that has never happened in
the community.
Musa said on that fateful day, they recovered five bodies,
while on the following day, three bodies were recovered at Kaku village while
the last body was recovered at Garu Rubuchi 5km away from the scene of the
incident.
He explained that all of them have been buried according to
Islamic rite.
The village head advised people using canoe to always put
safety first and avoid overloading passengers for the sake of money.
River Galma is linked to River Kaduna en route to River
Gilmore in Kubau local government area of Kaduna State.
In a condolence visit, member representing Zaria City
Constituency in the State House of Assembly, Suleiman Wakili donated two new
canoes to the community to ease their transportation difficulties.
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