A father and his teenage daughter have died after falling into an abandoned dry well in Yancibi Village, Tsanyawa Local Government Area of Kano State.
The Kano State Fire Service confirmed the incident in a statement issued on Wednesday by its Public Relations Officer, ACFO Saminu Yusif Abdullahi, identifying the victims as 45-year-old Abubakar Abdullahi and his 15-year-old daughter, Fiddausi Abubakar.
According to the statement, the Tsanyawa Fire Service received a distress call on Tuesday evening reporting that the father and daughter had fallen into the well.
Firefighters from the Tsanyawa Fire Service responded immediately but were unable to complete the rescue operation due to darkness and difficult conditions at the scene. An emergency rescue team from the Fire Service headquarters was later deployed on Wednesday morning to continue the operation.
“Our rescue team successfully recovered the victims from the well. They were brought out unconscious and were later confirmed dead,” Abdullahi said.
The Fire Service said the bodies were handed over to the Village Head of Yancibi, Shamsu Sani.
Preliminary investigations indicated that the teenage girl accidentally fell into the abandoned well, while her father entered in an attempt to rescue her but also became trapped.
“The girl accidentally fell into the well. Her father attempted to rescue her but was unable to escape, resulting in the tragic loss of both lives,” Abdullahi added.
The agency expressed condolences to the bereaved family and urged residents to avoid attempting rescues in wells without proper equipment or trained emergency personnel.
West Trybe reports that accidents involving abandoned wells continue to claim lives in parts of northern Nigeria, prompting repeated warnings from emergency agencies for communities to fence or properly cover disused wells and immediately alert trained rescue personnel during emergencies instead of attempting dangerous rescue operations themselves.
