Aba: Girl, 5, swept away by floodwater

Residents of Akpu Road in the Ogbor Hill axis of Aba, Abia state, were thrown into mourning as a five-year-old girl was on Saturday swept away by floodwater resulting from a torrential rain that day, which lasted for several hours in the city.

Reports from the city indicate that the child, identified as Melody, who hailed from a community in Edda, in Afikpo North Local Government Area of Ebonyi state and her seven-year-old brother had gone outside their building located on Akpu Road to bathe under the rain.

It was gathered that as the duo were playing outside under the rain, the girl sat on an uncovered drainage collection box in the area, and before anyone knew what happened, she fell into the box and was swept away by the floodwater.

It was reported that immediately the incident happened, the mother who sells garri at the nearby Good Morning Market was alerted.

The woman, while lamenting the incident, told neighbours that as she was leaving for the market Saturday morning, she had warned the children not to play or go outside to bathe when it was raining.

The two children were said to have defied their mother’s warning and gone outside to bathe when it was raining, resulting in the fatal incident.

A search immediately commenced to recover the body of the girl without success. The search was said to have continued Monday morning in the nearby Waterside River.

It is feared that the body of the girl might have been stuck under the water tunnel or swept into the Aba River, popularly known as Waterside.

At the time of this report, local divers were said to be still searching the river for the body of the girl.