A 13-year-old student of a private school in Abakpa Nike, Enugu State drowned in a flood that followed a rainfall yesterday.
A witness who preferred anonymity said the girl fell into the gutter while dodging a speeding commercial bus which splashed water as it moved.
Mr Ejike Okpara, who was also at the scene on Nike Road, told newsmen that a pupil was earlier saved by bystanders after she also fell into the gutter.
Okpara said the little girl from St Theresa Primary School, Abakpa fell into the gutter near her school around 7.30 a.m. but was saved by passersby.
The witness, however, said the second girl, a JS II student of Modern Ideal College (MIC), was unlucky as she drowned in the flood.
He said efforts by youths in the area to rescue her failed as the flood overpowered them and moved her into the nearby Ekulu River.
Members of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) who waded through the river to search for the girl could not recover her body.
One of them, Mr Ikechukwu Ani, said they searched through a distance of about five kilometres on the river bank but could not find her body.
Owner of the school, Mrs Florence Ani, expressed shock at the incident which she said was the first of its kind.
Ani said the school was doing everything possible to recover the student who was identified as Onyinye Akabuko.
She said the parents of the girl were also making efforts to find their daughter.
The incident is the second in the state capital within one month, it was gathered. Coordinator of the Enugu State Emergency Management Agency, Mr Joe Offor, declined to pick his calls when newsmen attempted to get his reaction. (NAN)
