The corpses of three fun-seekers have been recovered from River Buruku in Benue State by the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, (NSCDC).
The deceased persons were declared missing on Boxing Day in Buruku local government area of the state.
The NSCDC’s Public Relations Officer in the state, Michel Ejelikwu, who disclosed this in a statement on Thursday in Makurdi, said the corpses were recovered by divers on December 27, 2021.
He listed the victims as Chiater Achir (18), Aondoso Iorliam (20), and Aondogu Gbir (30).
The statement read: “On Friday, December 24, 2021, at 10:20 a.m. the Command got credible Intelligence about the illegal gathering of youths in hundreds of thousands at the River Buruku for what they termed as picnic and carnival.
“The Benue State Government and the Tiv Traditional Council had at different intervals banned this carnival owing to the negative vices that take place there.
“However the youths still went ahead with the carnival. The Command on the strength of the Intelligence deployed men to the location on December 25, 2021, in collaboration with sister agencies to maintain law and order and if possible stop the carnival from holding; but the youths over-numbered the security officials.
“However, on Sunday, December 26, 2021, there were unsubstantiated reports of missing persons, which was confirmed on Monday, December 27, 2021, after three dead bodies were recovered by a search team of divers at about 10:00 a.m.”
