SHALLOW POND THAT SWALLOWS PEOPLE IN CALABAR

All hell broke loose yesterday at Lemna/Marian Road extension, by the newly constructed overhead bridge, in Calabar Municipality of Cross River State, when a middle age man and his daughter, aged 15, mysteriously disappeared in shallow stagnant water.

The deceased was identified as Ime Inocent Hanson while the daughter who died with him was Ruth. They were indigenes of Nkworo village in Etim Ekpo local government of Akwa Ibom state.

Mrs Kate Ime Inocent, wife of the deceased, who was wailing uncontrollably near the pond, narrated to us the sad story of the mysterious death of her husband and daughter.

“My husband left the house with my two children, Ruth and Divine (male) to this place to wash his vehicle. He used to plight Calabar - Lagos, Calabar – Abuja routes. Few hours after, people came to inform me that water has swallowed him and my daughter, Ruth,” Kate, who could not talk again due to grief, beckoned on her son, Divine, to tell our reporter what happened.

Throwing more light on the death of his father and sister, 13 year old Divine, said after they had finished washing the vehicle, his father went back to the pond to bath, but that suddenly; the father was seen struggling with something which was seemingly dragging him down.

“At that point, my sister, Ruth, jumped in to help him out but both of them then disappeared; I could not see them again. Something told me to jump in too but I did not so I started to cry out for help,” little Divine said amidst tears.

In the midst of that confusion, our reporter said, a man, identified as a highly spiritual man vested with knowledge of such matters appeared. He was said to have been contacted by family members for the rescue mission.

After pouring libations repeatedly and making some incantations, the man, whose name could not be ascertained as at the time of this report, jumped into the pond, and in a twinkle of an eye, dragged out two bodies. They were stone dead. The corpses were identified by Mrs Kate as her husband and daughter.

The deceased Hiace bus, with registration number, CAL 85 XA was stationed at the scene of the incident.

Eyes witnesses said the same stagnant water had already claimed five lives within the month of November, 2014, including that of a male student of Government Technical Collage, 8 miles Calabar, who was buried right by the pond.

Speaking, one Daniel Eminue said “this pond has become an abode of death. Taxi drivers who used to come here to wash their vehicles should avoid this place. Parents should equally warn their children never to come here to bath.

“This place is not even a stream with high water current yet it is killing people every day. Government should fill this place up or better still create awareness about what we have seen here today so that people would stop coming here for whatever reason.”

Report by
JOSEPH KINGSTON, Calabar

Note;
This story happened 3 weeks ago