By Uzair Adam
Three teenage girls tragically drowned in a pond in the Buji Local Government Area of Jigawa State on Saturday.
The Spokesperson for the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) in the state, ASC Badaruddeen Tijjani, confirmed the incident in a statement released in Dutse on Sunday.
The girls, identified as Fatima Sule (12), Nasiya Sale (12), and Huwaila Sa’adu (13), all from Tulla village, were reportedly cutting grass to feed their livestock near the pond when the accident occurred around 11 a.m.
According to the NSCDC, they received a distress call from the Tulla community shortly after 11 a.m. They quickly responded by sending officers, including divisional disaster management officers, to the scene for a rescue mission.
Community members and NSCDC personnel worked together and were able to recover the bodies after approximately 30 minutes of searching.
The girls were taken to the nearest health centre, where they were pronounced dead.
The investigation indicated that the spot where they were gathering grass was the same place where they drowned.
The NSCDC Commandant in the state, Mr. Muhammad Danjuma, expressed his condolences to the families of the victims and urged parents to monitor their children closely, especially during times when ponds and rivers are swollen, to prevent such tragedies.