Flood claims student in Enugu, another saved

A 13-year-old student of a private school in Abakpa Nike, Enugu on
Tuesday drowned in a flood that followed a morning downpour.
An eyewitness, who preferred anonymity, said the girl fell into the
gutter while dodging a speeding commercial bus, which splashed water
as it moved.
Ejike Okpara, who was also at the scene on Nike Road, told the News
Agency of Nigeria that another pupil was earlier saved by bystanders
after she also fell into the gutter.
Okpara said the little girl from St. Theresa Primary School, Abakpa
was the first to fall inside the gutter near her school around 7.30am
but was saved by passersby.
The witness, however, said the second girl, a JS II student of Modern
Ideal College, was unlucky as she drowned in the fast flood.
He said that efforts by youths in the area to rescue her failed as the
flood overpowered them and moved her into the nearby Ekulu River.
Members of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps, who waded
through the river to search for the girl, could not recover her body.
One of them, Ikechukwu Ani, said they searched through a distance of
about five kilometres on the river bank but could not find her body.
The proprietress of the school, Florence Ani, expressed shock at the
incident, which she said was the first of its kind.
Ani said the school was doing everything possible to recover the
student, who was identified as Onyinye Akabuko.
She said the parents of the girl were also making efforts to find
their daughter.
NAN reports that the incident was the second in the state capital
within one month after two girls, who were hawking on Independence
Avenue, drowned in a nearby stream on September 14.
The Coordinator of the Enugu State Emergency Management Agency, Joe
Offor, did not pick his calls when NAN attempted to get his reaction.