A boy of about 13 years was drowned by the Nworie river in Owerri, Imo State, Sunday.
The boy whose name was given as Chimezie was said to have gone to the Amakohia side of the river at about 7am with a bucket to fetch water.
Getting to the river which anchors at the back of their residence, Chimezie’s bucket was said to have fallen off his hand into the river, flowing to a distance beyond his reach.
An eyewitness, Chimezie’s little cousin, had submitted that he had tried to discourage the victim from making attempts to get the bucket, but he(Chimezie) insisted he would be able to get it.
Getting into the river to recover the bucket, he got drowned and was never sighted again.
Raising the alarm, residents of the neighbourhood stormed the river amidst attempts to see if the boy could be rescued but all to no avail.
Chimezie, said to be the only son of her parents and a native of Obowo Local Government Area of the state, was living with her aunt before the incident.
When our correspondent visited the residence of the victim on Amadi Street, Amakohia, his body was yet to be seen.
His aunt, a mother of four and the kids were devastated as they could not contain their grief and wail.
Not even the attempts of neighbours to console them could assuage their wail of despair.
According to some residents of the area, the river would only throw up the remains of the boy after a sacrifice by elders of Amakohia who are in charge of the river.
They stated that a delegation had been dispatched to inform the elders, of the tragedy, maintaining that whoever gets drowned in the river is not found until a sacrifice is performed.
It was gathered that the street has not had light for about two weeks, resulting in the few commercial borehole operators not maintaining regular sale of water to residents, thereby creating scarcity of water.
A resident of the area who gave his name as Obinna Okoro blamed the tragedy on the anomaly of the society.
He submitted that if there was easy access to water, such wouldn’t have occurred.
“EEDC people came here about two weeks ago to disconnect light, they had squabbles with residents of one of the buildings in the area who resisted them from disconnecting their light. They (EEDC) instead of resolving the issue, went and disconnected the source of power to the entire street including many who had already paid, leaving the people in total darkness. Just imagine what it has caused”, he fumed.
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