Emmanuel Adeyemi, Lokoja
Tragedy struck on Monday night in Kabba, headquarters of Kabba/Bunu Local Government Area of Kogi State as four HND graduates who specialise in digging wells died inside the well had dug.
The deceased names were given as David, Sunday, Ayo and Ogbekedo, among them two siblings.
According to an eye witness, the tragedy occurred at Zango quarters, Kabba, where a primary school mistress, Mrs Agnes Baiyere, contracted the victims to dig a well in the front of her newly-constructed four-bedroom house.
The woman, a teacher at St Mary’s Primary School, Kabba, was said to have earlier contracted one of the deceased, David, who invited his colleagues to dig the well.
The well which was said to be about 25-feet deep, took about a week to dig. They had completed works with all the finishing done. The well cover had been put in place; the outer part of the well had been plastered when two of the victims climbed inside on Monday evening at about 6 pm to evacuate some broken blocks that fell into the well.
It was gathered that when one of them entered into the well, he was said to have complained of dizziness, leading to the second person quickly going in to the aid the first. But inexplicably the two were trapped in the well; they could not come out.
As the news filtered out, the other two workers were said to have immediately raced to the well to rescue their colleagues, but they were also trapped and could not come out.
Seeing what had happened, land lady and her tenants were said to have begun to wail; their wailing drew the attention of sympathisers to the scene who at that point became so much afraid as speculations that the victims might have been trapped by ‘mummy water’ became rift.
Some staff members of Abuja Electricity Distribution Company, Kabba office, were said to have been contacted. They raced to the scene with their ladder with which the bodies of the diggers were evacuated.
The source said as they were been rushed to the General Hospital Kabba, one of the deceased opened his eyes after a certain pastor had said some fervent prayers; but he gave up as soon he arrived at the hospital.
A woman described one of the deceased, David, as a member of her church and a very gentle and hard-working fellow.
She said David and his colleagues used the vocation to train themselves up to HND level. He said David just got married after completing his NYSC programme last year. He was said to have attended the new-month service in his church that day.
Meanwhile, the land lady of the house, was said to have collapsed on seeing the evacuated bodies and was rushed to the hospital where she is now receiving treatment.
The remains of the deceased whose ages ranged between 30- 35 years, have been deposited at the morgue of the General Hospital, Kabba for autopsy.