Soak-away Tragedy in Enugu

It was, indeed, a big shock in Enugu recently when three men died mysteriously inside a six-feet deep soak-away tank in the Garki Area of Enugu in Enugu South Local Government Area.

The incident reportedly occurred at around 11 am at No. 15 Umuaniabor Street in Enugu metropolis when the men went to scoop feces from the filled pit. The incident has, ostensibly, thrown residents of the area into panic, with many wondering what could have caused such sudden deaths.

While it is the suspicion of many that the deceased may have inhaled a toxic waste emitting from the underground soak-away tank, others feared that they may have been killed by an “evil spirit” inside the tank.

Two of the victims were said to be staff of a sewage management company, One with God Sewage Services, while the third was a tenant in the three-storey building.

It was learnt that the tenants had invited staff of the sewage company to evacuate feces from the underground septic sewage filled to the brim, which they successful did between 9 am and 11 am yesterday.

However, after evacuating the human wastes, the workers, on instruction, opened the soak-away side apparently to check if there were some feces left in the soak-away, but unknown to them, death lurked in the corner for them inside the pit.

“After opening the soak-away pit, one of them went inside but few seconds after getting in, he shouted and slumped. His colleague who immediately rushed into pit to ascertain what happened also shouted aloud and slumped’ an eye witness narrated.

He stated that the noise attracted the tenant who rushed to the scene and saw the two men lying critically in the pit, and without wasting time he also went into the pit on a rescue mission only to slump few seconds after. Both of them, he said, died within a space of five minutes. He stated that it was like whoever goes into the pit, which depth was just about six feet, will just collapse and die, regretting that it was a strange development.

Of course, other tenants and sympathizers who saw how the three men gave up the ghost refused to move into the pit as they only opened another section of the soak-away and brought a ladder with which they tried to pull out the lifeless bodies of the victims using a rope.

However, the remains of the victims were only rescued by a team of policemen from Awkunanaw Police Division in the Garki area of Enugu. The police, also, ordered everybody out of the compound.

For a long time, the three corpses lay in the pit while with several people converged on the street and discussing the incident in hushed up tones. Women and children in the neighborhood were seen weeping endlessly.

The police officer, who led his colleagues to the place, said they had contacted officials of Enugu South Local Government to assist in removing the corpses.