Tragedy has struck the people of Ribang (Mbang) village, Kauru Local Government Area, Kaduna State,as six teenagers drowned in the Mbang river on Tuesday in while returning from a Junior WAEC exam at about 5:30 p.m.
The body recovered were identified as Manasseh Monday (16 yrs), Musa John (16 yrs), Pius David (15 yrs), Monday Ayuba (16 yrs), David Danlami (19 yrs), and Yahuza Audu (16 yrs) were students of Government Secondary School Fadan Chawai writing the West African Junior School Examination.
Pastor Simon Ishaku,the National Public Relations Officer of Ribang Development Association, who confirmed the incident to PUNCH Online via a telephone on Wednesday, disclosed that three dead bodies have already been recovered and buried.
As of now, there are still three missing as locals have not been able to recover them out of the river, he said.
“The teenagers left their homes with excitement while their parents went to the farm with the hope of reuniting with them after writing their papers of the day, only to meet theirunfortunate death.
its been revealed that the Mbang river has been a death trap for our people over the years, noting before the community can access any school or any hospital facility they’ve to travel for about 8 kilometres.
“We’re calling on the Federal Government, Governor Uba Sani, Senator Sunday Katung and our House of Representative members as a matter of urgency, to kindly assist us with school, hospital, access road and bridge in order to bring succour to our community,” Simon appealed.
The Kaduna State Police Public Relations Officer, ASP Mansir Hassan, did not respond to calls and text messages sent to him by our Correspondent as of the time of filing this report.
When contacted, the Zonal Coordinator, of Kaduna State Emergency Management Agency Zone One, Mubarak Muhammad, said he would confirm the incident and get back to our correspondent.
He had yet to do so as of the time of publication.
