From Ogbonnaya Ndukwe, Aba
A10-year-old boy was on Thursdays evening swept away by flood as he tried to dispose refuse into a drainage during a downpour in Aba, Abia State.
The deceased, whose name was not immediately revealed, was said to have run out into the street to dispose refuse into a running flood water along Omuma Road, Over rail, Aba, on the orders of his mother when the incident occurred.
An eyewitness said he was trying to wade through the fast flowing water when he got swept and carried away.
Residents and other people who had tried to save him later discovered his corpse in the drainage along the adjoining Cemetery Road. Though the police or state environmental sanitation agency (ASEPA) have not commented on the incident, there have variously been warnings from the authorities against pouring refuse into the drains during rainfall by residents of urban towns in the state.
The sanitation agency had in a bid to dissuade people from indiscriminate disposing of refuse on unauthorised places, including the drains, set up task forces and established mobile courts to arrest and sentence offenders. But the practice has continued unabated.