Onyinye Okafor, a woman, was swept away by a flood caused by a rainstorm recorded in the Oko community, Orumba North Local Government Area, Anambra State, on Tuesday.
The mother of five was from Etti, a village in the Nanka community.
According to reports, the incident happened on Tuesday while she alighted from a tricycle in the middle of the flood.
She was said to have boarded the tricycle after she came out from a bank where she went to make some transactions.
According to an eyewitness in the area, the deceased, who had parked her motorcycle at a location, boarded a tricycle to the bank, after which she boarded another tricycle to go back to where she had parked her motorcycle to continue her journey to her destination before the incident happened.
The source said, “While the tricycle was moving, the flood on the road affected the movement of the tricycle to the point that the tricyclist missed the track and lost control of the tricycle.
“Having sensed danger, she alighted from the tricycle in the middle of the flood in an attempt to save herself. But unfortunately, immediately after she stepped down, she missed her step and fell into a drainage where the flood was flowing through; and the flood washed her away immediately.
“Some of the other passengers in the tricycle and the tricyclist himself made efforts to rescue and pull her out of the flood, but to no avail, as the raging flood eventually swept her off.
“Many of those who attempted to rescue her also sustained varying degrees of injuries due to the effect of the flood.”
It was further gathered that the flood dumped the victim’s corpse under a culvert of a big drainage at the front gate of the Federal Polytechnic, Oko, where she was later found on Wednesday after several hours of intensive search.
She was said to have immediately been rushed to a nearby hospital where she was confirmed dead by the doctor on duty.