Father narrates how his 16-year-old daughter was electrocuted after power surge in Benue

Father of 16-year-old Vivian Ochanya Emmanuel, who was electrocuted following a sudden surge in electricity supply in Benue State, has narrated how the incident happened. 

Five people died while several others were injured in the incident which occurred in the early hours of Thursday, February 24, at Rice Mill area of Wadata, Makurdi. 

Speaking to Punch , Mr John Emmanuel, a former supervisor at a filing station in Makurdi said that Vivian was preparing for UTME before her untimely death. 

“I lost my first child, Vivian Ochanya Emmanuel, to the unfortunate incident. She was 16 years old. She just recently finished from secondary school and was expected to write this year’s UTME (Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination,” he said. 

“On that fateful morning, she had dressed up and was about going to her place of work at Modern Market, when one of her younger ones told her that the fridge was shocking. She went to the fridge and attempted to disconnect it from the socket.

“It was in the process of doing that she was electrocuted. One of our neighbours quickly went to remove the fuse but the fridge burst into flames and started burning the girl who was on the floor. I rushed to rescue her but I was also shocked. I rushed out and disconnected the cable that connected our building. It was after then that the light went out.

“Immediately, we disconnected the building, I was able to carry my daughter and rushed her to a private hospital where they told us she was dead. But still we proceeded to the Federal Medical Centre at Wadata. However, it was the same thing they told us. Still unrelenting, we took her to St. Theresa Hospital at High Level, Makurdi but they also said she was dead.

Mr Emmanuel disclosed that officials of JED visited him after the incident but never returned as they promised.

“They came a day after the incident and they promised to come back but since then we have not heard from them

“They didn’t tell us what was responsible for that but the transformer had been giving us problem for some time. I learnt that seven people died as a result of the power surge and several others were injured, some have been discharged while others are still in the hospital.”