From Emmanuel Adeyemi, Lokoja

Tragedy struck in Lokoja, the Kogi State capital on Saturday night  when rainstorm killed five people, including a pregnant woman.

The incident occurred along Hydro Juction Lokoja, at about 8:00pm when a big tree suddenly fell on the IBB Highway, a major road which passes through the state capital and trapped motorists and pasersby who ran helter skelter.

The storm happened barely one week after similar incidences were recorded in Okehi and Ogorimagongo Local government areas of the state, which destroyed property worth millions of naira and rendered several homeless.

According to a witness, the pregnant woman whose identity could not be immediately ascertained,  was said to be inside a commercial tricycle popularly called ‘keke napep’ with other passengers “when the tree suddenly fell on them.”

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It was learnt that efforts  by sympathisers to rescue the passengers of the tricycle  yielded no result as they were all confirmed dead upon arrival at the Federal Medical Centre, Lokoja.

When Daily Sun got the scene of the incident, hundreds of sympathisers were seen helping others who were trapped by the tree while an excavator was immeditely brought to clear the highway .

Expressing sadness, administrator of Lokoja Local Government, Shikiru Lawal, who was one of the early callers to the scene of the accident, lamented that the incident claimed five lives within some minutes, and added that “it was a great shock to the residents.”

Lawal, however, stressed need for the state government to cut down old trees which could pose danger on the highway and to motorists, when natural disaster occurs.