Olatunde Odimayo, Lokoja.
Tragedy struck in Lokoja yesterday as rainstorm killed five persons, including a pregnant woman.
The deceased were said to have been trapped when a big tree feel across the road at Hydro Junction, Lokoja at about 6pm yesterday.
The storm is coming barely one week after similar incidences were recorded in Okehi and Ogori-Magongo parts of the state destroying properties worth millions of naira and rendering several homeless.
Eyewitness account revealed that some of the deceased where inside a tricycle, popularly called Keke Napep, while others were passers-by scampering for safety when the storm raged.
It was learnt that attempt by residents to rescue them yielded no result as they were all confirmed dead upon arriving a near-by hospital.
When our reporter arrived the scene of the incident, hundreds of sympathizers gathered, excavators from the state government begins immediate clearing of the road as it obstructed traffic just with motorist forced to take another route to their destinations.
Expressing sadness, the administrator of Lokoja local government, Hon. Shiru Lawal lamented that the incidence remains a great shock to the people of the community adding that such death have not been recorded in the history of the local government.
He however stressed the need for the current administration to cut down old trees that could pose danger when similar occurrences occur.
