CALABAR – A 25-year-old student nurse, Elizabeth Awhobiwom Ukah, has drowned in Calabar, Cross River State capital.
Converseer gathered that the incident happened on Good Friday (18 April 2025) at Big Qua Town, close to Marian Market, Calabar Municipality Local Government Area, following a heavy downpour on the same day.
According to sources, Ukah, a female 200 level student of the University of Calabar Teaching (UCTH) College of Nursing Sciences, was returning from the Station of the Cross at the Holy Family Catholic Church, Big Qua Town by Eastern Secondary School, Close to Marian Market, Calabar, when the tragedy struck.
“She was returning home from attending Good Friday Catholic Mass and taking part in the Station of the Cross at the Holy Family Catholic Church, Big Qua, where she was swept away by the flood.
“She was later found dead in the drainage a few days after the incident,” a source disclosed.
The students and management of the UCTH College of Nursing Sciences, Moore Road, mourned Ukah, and a candle procession was conducted around the school environment for the deceased.
“It came to me like a shock just this morning. And it has been so saddening that I could lose a student – one of the most peaceful students in the class.
“I don’t really have what to say because I will not question God.
God knows why it went the way we have seen it now. I pray that God will give her perfect peace in the name of Jesus,” one of the management staff said.
The Chairman of the National Association of Nigerian Nurses and Midwives (NANNM), Cross River State Chapter, Comr. Josephine Bassey, in a telephone call on Wednesday, described the incident to Converseer as being unfortunate.
Bassey said: “I actually saw a post on social media some days ago, only for me to come and see and discover yesterday, and today that that was a student nurse. It is an unfortunate situation, and we sympathise with the family.
“It’s rainy the season, it’s just for us to be careful by avoiding certain places when it is raining. Don’t rush into flooded areas.
“We pray God to rest her soul and then give the family and the nursing community and the college the positive to bear the irreplaceable loss.
“After struggling to year two, and all of that, which she would be finishing next year. It’s unfortunate.”
Converseer reports that Elizabeth Ukah, who hails from Ohong in Obudu Local Government Area of the State, was buried on Wednesday (23 April 2025) in her home town.
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