Three teenage girls drowned about 11 a.m. on Saturday in a pond in the Buji Local Government Area of Jigawa State when they were cutting some grasses to feed their livestock beside the pond.
The spokesperson for the state command of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, ASC Badaruddeen Tijuana, who confirmed the tragic incident via a statement in Dutse, on Sunday listed the names of the deceased as Fatima Sule, 12; Nasiya Sale, 12 and Huwaila Sa’adu, 13; all of Tulla village.
“Moments after the incident, the NSCDC personnel operating in the area received a distress call from some members of the Tulla community at about 11:10 a.m. prompting his rushing to the scene, alongside the Divisional Disaster Management Officers for a rescue mission.
“With the combined efforts of people in the community, they were able to recover the bodies of the three teenage girls after about a 30-minute search and rescue operation,” the statement said.
Thereafter, the rescue team was said to have immediately rushed the recovered bodies to the nearest health centre in the area, where they were confirmed dead.
The statement disclosed that a preliminary investigation confirmed that the deceased were cutting some grass at the same spot, where they got drowned.
Furthermore, the statement stated that their remains, after being handed over to their respective parents, were promptly buried according to Islamic rites.
The statement said: “The NSCDC Commandant in the state, Mr Muhammad Danjuma, commiserated with the respective families of the deceased and enjoined parents to monitor the movement of their children, especially at a time when ponds and rivers are overflooded, to avoid such incidents.”
