Missing youths turn up as dead bodies after carnival in Benue

The Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps in Benue State has recovered the bodies of three young men, who were previously declared missing, from the  Benue river.

This was disclosed on Thursday in a statement signed by the Deputy Commander of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps, Ejelikwu Michael, who gave the names of the victims as; Andonso Iorliam; 20 years old, Chiater Achi; 18 years old, and Aondongo Gbir 30 years old.

The youths were declared missing on Boxing Day, December 26, 2021, at the Buruku area of Benue State.

Michael said in the statement that, the command had on Christmas Eve got a report about the gathering of hundreds of youths, who were having a picnic and carnival at the River Buruku. Such activities had been banned by the state government and the Tiv traditional council.

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“The Command on the strength of intelligence deployed men to the location on the 25th December, 2021. We also collaborated with sister agencies, to maintain law and order, and if possible stop the carnival from holding the carnival.

“But the number of the youths outnumbered security officials. However, on Sunday, 26th December, 2021, we received unsubstantiated reports about missing persons. We were able to confirm the report on Monday 27th, December, 2021 after three dead bodies were recovered by a search team of divers at about 1000hours.