By Abongwa Fozo
The body of a young girl that was dragged down the river Ntanche on Tuesday October 1, 2024 has been found some metres away from the Mbatu Dam.
Rescue efforts by the locals and elements of the Bamenda Army Rescue started after the heavy down pour earlier in afternoon.
Efforts to Rescue 9 years old ongoing at mile II Station
The girl of about nine years old was swept down stream along with two other boys while sheltering from the rains under a bridge when they noticed the rising water level due to heavy rains up stream. They boys survived by holding on to tree trunks about 200 meters down stream, but unfortunately the girl did not.
Residents of the areas stretching from Blue Moon to Mile III joined by the Army Rescue team had combed the area directly up and down stream from the bridge closed to “Welcome to Bamenda” on the Bamenda Santa road for several hours but could not find her.
Later when several others have given up any hopes of finding her dead or alive, a group of youths insisted on continuing the search. They descended to the Mbatu Dam and started another search moving up stream.
That is when they saw the body, stacked in a scum that was caused by a tree branch. With the reinforcement of the Army Rescue team the body was retrieved late into the evening at about 6:25 pm.
The incident has left the entire mile II and III neighborhood stunned as questions are asked. Why were the children doing outside at the time when the weather was getting worse? Why would they go swimming on a very wet and cold day? Why would they chose to hide under a bridge when it started raining when there are buildings close by? Why were they not in school? There seems to be no answers to these questions for now as the residents and the family silently heave a sigh of relieve that two other lives were saved.
