Overhead Tank Cr¥shes House, K!lls Six In Enugu
Overhead Tank Crushes House, Kills Six In Enugu
The lawmaker representing Awgu South State Constituency in the Enugu State House of Assembly, Hon Anthony Nwankwo, has confirmed the death of six family members following the collapse of a head tank on a house at Nenwenta community, Awgu Local Government Area of Enugu State.
Our heritage Reporter gathered that the incident occurred last weekend following torrential rainfall and landslides in the area.
Hon Nwankwo announced the calamity on Monday while raising the matter under a motion of urgent public importance on the floor of the House.
He blamed the community’s bad road network for the inability of emergency responders to urgently attend to the trapped victim. According to him, some of the victims might have survived if emergency responders had been able to reach the community quickly.
Nwankwo therefore called on the relevant authorities to urgently restore access to the affected communities, particularly the road linking Nenwenta and Ugwueme.
“I move that the House do write the relevant authorities to intervene to open the road leading to Ugwueme and Nenwenta,” Nwankwo said.
He appealed to the Enugu State Ministry of Works, the Enugu State Emergency Management Authority and the Ecological Fund to urgently intervene, reopen the road and prevent further loss of lives and property.
The dead were identified as a man, his wife, their three children and their grandmother. It was however learnt that a four-year-old child survived the disaster and was rescued from the rubble before being taken to hospital for treatment.
Some residents who spoke with our reporter begged governments at all levels to come to their rescue.
Jerome Ajima, a farmer, said, “We are cut off from other surrounding areas because of bad road. I appeal to our state and the local government to save us from our pains. During campaigns, politicians make all promises, but afterwards, we are forgotten. You can imagine a community that emergency services can’t be effected due to inaccessibility.”
Sylvester Ugada hails from the area. He said, “Nothing is working in this community because of bad road network. What happened is quite unfortunate. But let it reawaken our leaders to their responsibility. We are mainly farmers, and don’t get values of our efforts because of bad road. Our sons and daughters hardly return to their ancestral homes because of bad road.”
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