‘How four people died inside blocked Kano waterway’

By Bosede Olufunmi

The Kano Fire Service has confirmed that four people lost their lives in a blocked waterway at Zangon Kaya in Dawakin Tofa Local Government Area of the state on Friday afternoon.,

Two of the victims of the drowning disaster died while trying to rescue two people who went to swim in the waterway and got stuck inside it, the spokesperson for Kano State Fire Service, Alhaji Saminu Abdullahi said in a statement on Friday.

Abdullahi identified the victims who were rescued unconscious by the Service and later confirmed dead as Bashir Sani, 28, Nasirudden Tasi’u, 25, Usman Ubale, 26 and Yakubu Muhammed, 22.

He said, “We received an emergency call at about 13:48 hrs from one Rabiu Yusif that four people had fallen into a waterway blocked that had accumulated due to the railway line construction.

“We immediately sent our rescue team to the scene.

“Two of the victims enter the waterway to swim when they got trapped.”

Abdullahi said that another person entered the blocked drain to rescue them also got stuck while the fourth person went in to help and also got trapped.

He further explained that with the arrival of the rescue team, the residents were able to pull out two of the victims, while the team recovered the other two.

“All the victims were rescued unconscious and were later confirmed dead.

“Their corpses were handed over to SP Abdulkadir Albasu of Dawanau Police Division,” he said.

Abdullahi said that the cause of the incident was as a ‘result of local swimming in a blocked sewer’.

(NAN)