An unidentified 13-year-old food vendor has been swept away by flooding at Awka, the Anambra State capital.
The girl, Blueprint learnt, was working with her guardian who operates a food stall along Ziks Avenue, Awka, when their wheelbarrow was taken away by flood on Wednesday, and in the process of trying to rescue it she felled into a drainage.
A source said, “The girl was trying to rescue their barrow, which was being swept away by flood. They were two girls, but one of them, who was the eldest missed her step and fell into the drainage, and was immediately swept away.
“People around the area rallied round and rescued the girl in a drainage down the road, but before then, she was already dead. The woman she was helping was wailing helplessly under the rain, and everybody pitied her.
“From what we gathered, she was not the mother of the girls, they were girls who were helping her in her shop. She kept lamenting, asking herself what story she would tell the parents of the child. It was such a horrible sight.”
The State Police Public Relations Officer, Mr Tochukwu Ikenga, was yet to confirm the report as at press time.
