Two men lost their lives in a tragic incident in Albasu Local Government Area of Kano State on Saturday morning while trying to retrieve a mobile phone from a pit toilet.
Eyewitnesses said the first victim, Usman Gurgu, 40, collapsed after entering the toilet to recover the phone. When he failed to come out, 35-year-old Ibrahim Ƙuyyo went in to rescue him but also lost consciousness and died.
“I was there when it happened. Usman went in first to bring out the phone, but he didn’t come out. Then Ƙuyyo tried to help him, but he too didn’t make it,” said Usaini Mukhtar, a resident of the area.
Usaini also lamented the lack of immediate emergency response in the area. “There is no Fire Service office in Albasu. If we had one, maybe they could’ve been saved. We had to report the incident to the Takai Fire Service before anything could be done,” he added.
The bodies of the victims were later recovered and buried according to Islamic rites by members of the community.
As of the time of filing this report, the Kano State Fire Service had not issued an official statement regarding the incident.
