A young man, whose identity is yet to be ascertained, has been washed away by flood in Onitsha, Anambra State business hub.
The young man, who was said to be an apprentice, was reported to have been drowned at the Ochanja market round-about axis of Onitsha, on Tuesday, following heavy rainfall which caused flooding in the area.
An eyewitness, Mr Micheal Uche, said the young man had wanted to get out of a shop when it was raining heavily and mistakenly took a wrong step on the plank used in crossing a gutter at the front of the shop, and immediately fell into the ravaging water.
“As he stepped out, he matched his foot on the plank used to cross the gutter, that served as bridge/link between the shop and the road and immediately the plank broke and he fell into the deep gutter and was washed away immediately by the speeding flood, ” he said.
He said all efforts by sympathisers to rescue him were futile.
“Some sympathisers defied the rain and put some planks and other heavy objects into the gutter to cause obstruction and possibly stop the body of the boy from moving but to no avail as he was nowhere to be seen” he said
According to the eye witness a search team made up of traders and some motorists who went up to Nwangene river to know if it would be able to see the corpse were disappointed as they returned without finding the body” he said
South East Trust gathered that the development caused heavy traffic for over two hours.
A source said all efforts made to get the boy’s master proved abortive as his identity was not immediately ascertained.
The body was not found at the time of filing this report.
