Four Female Teenagers Drown In Jigawa

• One survives

By Mohammed Abubakar Dutse

At least four girls have been confirmed dead in a local pond in a village in Jigawa state over the weekend.

The victims, all in their teens were said to have gone to swim in a pond at Malkaderi village in Gagarawa local government area, Northwest of the state, when the incident happened. But the fifth girl survived and was attended to.

The spokesman of the state Police Command, Lawan Shiisu Adam, a deputy superintendent of police, (DSP), who confirmed the development in a statement on Sunday in Dutse said the incident took place on Saturday at about 11:00 am.

He identified the four victims that died as Saina’u Musa,12; Fiddausi Ado, 11; Habiba Musa,12 and Bahijja Musa,13, while 8-year-old Sahura Audu, was found alive and was still struggling.

“Following receipt of the deplorable report, a team of police officers and local divers rushed to the scene and launched a rescue operation. The victims were all evacuated from the pond and ferried them to Gagarawa Primary Health Care.

“Four of the victims were confirmed dead by the medical doctor on call, while Sahura was resuscitated, treated and discharged. Their corpses were later released to the relatives for burial.”

He quoted the Command’s Commissioner of Police, Ahmed Tijani Abdullahi as extending his condolences to the deceaseds’ family and relatives and prays for their eternal peace.

The CP, however, cautioned parents and guardians to keep a watchful eye on their childrens’ whereabouts and warned them not to swim in any body of water, especially during the rainy season when the volume of most ponds, rivers, and streams are higher.