Yet-to-be identified number of people and vehicles have been washed away by flood when Mulka bridge along the ever-busy Bauchi-Kano road collapse following a heavy downpour on Friday rendering thousands of travellers stranded as no vehicle can move in either direction.
However, the bodies of two people who were reportedly killed after their car was washed away by the flood have been recovered.
The flood followed a downpour that lasted for several hours from Thursday night to Friday morning leading to the collapse of the road which links Bauchi metropolis, Ningi LGA and leads to Jigawa and Kano states.
It was learnt that other passengers who were also in the car have been rescued alive as our Correspondent who visited the scene of the incident observed that many travellers were stranded with some of them waiting for several hours for the water to recede.
After the water receded many of them were seen with their luggage walking through a rice farm by the side of the collapsed road.
The Danburam of Ningi Emirate in Ningi LGA of Bauchi State, Alhaji Yusuf Yunusa Danyaya, who confirmed the incident to our correspondent in a telephone interview, said that they woke up Friday morning to hear about the unfortunate incident.
He said that: “Following the incident, people cannot travel to Bauchi from Ningi likewise people from Bauchi cannot travel to Ningi up to Kano state from here. The incident is terrible. After the bridge linking the roads broke, part of the road, about 30 meters, was washed away by the flood and a pit was created there. The road has been broken into two. It was a serious flood.”
He also said that “So far, there is a car inside, golf, there is no way it can be removed at the moment. Two women inside the golf got drowned. The remaining people were rescued. One of them had been on top of the tree, it wasn’t long that he was rescued.”
Adding that: “There is a trailer that carried over 400 animals, sheep and goats, but unfortunately, about 250 of them died in the incident. They usually partition the trailer into two, up and down and it was able to carry that number. One of the victims said he had 160 and all of them died. There is no way cars will drive past the place, travellers are just stranded. There are trailers, buses and small cars all stranded.”
The traditional ruler further said that although the floodwaters are subsiding at the moment, nothing can be done to salvage the situation in terms of passage because many travellers are currently stranded.
“There are security agents from the Nigeria Police Force, The Nigerian Army, the Federal Road Safety Corps, the Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps, they are all there trying to help and control people there,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Speaker of the Bauchi State House of Assembly, Abubakar Suleiman, has commiserated with the people of the area, the local government area and the entire state over the unfortunate incident.
Suleiman who represents Ningi Constituency in the State House of Assembly, was at the scene of the incident to assess the level of damage.
Speaking to the people there, he described the incident as very unfortunate and promised them that he would immediately inform the state governor, Bala Mohammed, for the state government to urgently assist.
However, the Executive Chairman, Ningi LGA, Hon. Mahmuda Tabla said no life was lost in the incident.
He said that over 20 houses in the area were submerged and destroyed.
Tabla called on the federal and state governments to immediately intervene and fix the road so that people can go about their normal businesses.
“As you came and saw, there was a downpour from yesterday evening to the early hours of this morning.
“Drivers were plying the road from that night till the early hours of today (Friday), but this morning, some came and while on that part of the road, they observed that if they proceed, the road will break and if they turn back, it will also break and that is why you saw the two vehicles in-between the two parts of the road that were cut-off.
“Another car was washed away and it fell off the road. The villagers were able to rescue the occupants of the vehicle and some of them were rushed to the hospital but nobody died in the incident,” he said.
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