It was around 6.30 pm penultimate Tuesday when 20 female teenagers were returning from Tudun Katsinawa to Lanjan, where they had gone to purchase cassava for sale. Selling of cassava during long school vacations by young girls is the in-thing in the local government area and they mostly go to Tudun Katsinawa, famous for cassava cultivation, to purchase the commodity. They then cook it and hawk around the neighbourhood, sometimes as far as Kano metropolis.
To get to the village, the girls like many other villagers, must go over the river which is a shortcut. About 20 of them, aged between 10 and 15, had successfully purchased the cassava and got on the canoe. They however encountered stormy weather and the canoe capsized. The boat operator and eight girls survived, but 12 others were not lucky, as they drowned.
One of the survivors, Rama Sanusi, 12, said the rainstorm began when they were halfway across the river. “The canoe capsized and we prayed all the while. It’s Allah’s will that I survived it because I can’t swim. My friends died,” she said, visibly shaken.
Villagers told Weekly Trust that some of the survivors were rescued by a woman who was waiting to board the canoe at the other side. The woman, named Habiba, said: “I was waiting to board the canoe with my son when it capsized. I quickly stashed my 2-year-old under a tree and dove into the river and I was able to rescue some of the girls.”
Villagers said a full-scale rescue operation could not take place immediately. A lifeless body was found at Tambarawa Bridge the following morning and locals said 10 others have been found at various locations. On Thursday, a corpse was found in a river in Bebeji local government area, making a total of 11 corpses that have been found so far.
A community leader in Tudun Katsinawa, 65-year-old Iliya Dahiru, told Weekly Trust that one of the corpses is still missing and the canoe has also not been found. He attributed the cause of the mishap to a deity who visited the river. “We have been traversing the river for over 60 years and nothing of this nature has happened. But we have found out that it was a visiting river spirit that caused it,” he said. Dahiru added that when the boat capsized, he ran towards the river along with other villagers for rescue, but he couldn’t move his legs.
One of the mothers of the drowned girls, Binta Hassan, said they have since taken the death of their children as the will of Allah. “It was the long holiday that made our children to be doing the cassava business. We have left everything to Allah.”
Before the mishap, Weekly Trust gathered that two canoes were stationed at the both sides of the river with operators collecting stipends. But when our correspondent went to the river, there were none. Two gourds were seen at the river bank, kept by the villagers. Animals were also seen at the river bank, grazing.
Aliyu Dayyabu, who was around the river bank, urged state and local government authorities to help them with a motor boat, as done to riverine communities.
Efforts to get the operator of the boat that capsized failed as he was at the Divisional Police Station at Chiromawa area of the local government area and the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) barred our correspondent from speaking to him.
Emir of Kano, Muhammad Sanusi II, urged the parents of the girls to take the tragic incident as the will of Allah. “But you should continue to look for the remaining girls,” he said.
