Wailings from an inconsolable young lady in her 20s, Renance Vincent, moved many sympathisers to tears.
The lady’s younger siblings identified as triplets were among the 26 youths of the Evangelical Church Winning All who drowned in River Benue last Sunday.
Many sympathisers thronged the MOPOL 13 barracks located in Adeke, a suburb of Makurdi, Benue State capital, to condole with families of the victims.
It was a sad sight at Adeke at the time our correspondent visited the barracks on Monday. Residents, comprising women and children, were seen weeping and men wore sober looks, discussing the calamity involving children of policemen, many of whom were on special duty in the North-East.
The mourners took turns to visit some blocks in the barracks to console with the bereaved families.
At one of the flats, the unidentified mother of the triplets; namely Paul, Peter and Paulina, sat dejectedly on the floor of their living room, oblivious of the presence of many sympathisers including our correspondent.
The parlour was as quiet as a graveyard except for intermittent cries from mourners gathered outside and other affected families few blocks away.
The woman gazed at the ceiling occasionally, deeply lost in thought. The family in one of flats lost two children to the boat accident while another lost one of their two children.
At the extreme of the barracks is the flat where the family of a 29-year-old leader of the youth, Shedrak Sanni, lived and the Bulus family lives opposite the flat. The Bulus lost five family members; two children, a grandchild and two relatives.
During the cacophony of cries, our correspondent heard an unidentified resident in the barracks shouting, “I have lived here for the past 23 years and never heard that even a motorcycle brushed anyone not to talk of witnessing calamity of this magnitude.”
Naijalog gathered that the church youths were travelling to an annual conference known as ‘New Life for All’ (Sabo Rai in Hausa parlance) when the boat they were in capsized and they all drowned.
Their destination was an island opposite Kwaghter called Ole-Gabu in the same Makurdi Local Government Area of the state and to get to the area, the youth had to cross the River Benue.
Our correspondent learnt that the youth leader arranged for a bigger boat which would convey them. But at the time they left the church and arrived at the River around 12:30pm that day, the boat operator had gone and they were left to seek alternative means of getting to their destination.
It was further learnt that they had to get a smaller boat and before they moved, one of them, according to reports, called to find out from one of the attendees already at the venue if the event was still on.
Naijalog further learnt that the caller was informed that the event was over and that they shouldn’t bother coming but upon informing others, they were said to have insisted on going. Sadly, on the way to the programme venue, the boat capsized midway around Ijaha community.
Ironically, some of the attendees returning from the programme saw the capsized boat and quickly alerted villagers at Ijaha community who formed a search party to find the bodies which had sunk into the water.