A grieving mother, Mrs Mercy Edu, has narrated the heartbreaking ordeal of losing four of her seven children after a landslide triggered by prolonged heavy rainfall brought down a building onto her family’s home in Ikot Anwatim, Calabar, Cross River State.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with The PUNCH, the bereaved mother recounted how the tragedy unfolded, saying the victims, whom she described as brilliant and promising children, died instantly when a house perched on a nearby hill collapsed onto their residence during a heavy downpour.
Mrs Edu, who is married to Kingsley Edu, said she was attending to customers at her foodstuff shop when the incident occurred.
According to her, five of her children were inside the house after returning from school to change out of their rain soaked clothes, while two others remained with her at the shop.
She said moments later, a loud sound was heard as the structure above the hill gave way under the pressure of the persistent rainfall, crashing onto their home and burying the children beneath mud and debris.
The distraught mother said only one of the five children trapped in the building survived after neighbours rushed to the scene and rescued the child.
She identified the deceased as Bright Edu, 18, who had completed the 2025 West African Senior School Certificate Examination and aspired to become a nurse, nine year old Godswill, seven year old Richard and six year old Daniel.
Mrs Edu described the children as intelligent, hardworking and well behaved, saying they consistently excelled academically and were active in church activities.
She lamented that years of sacrifice to provide them with quality education had been cut short by the disaster.
She attributed the incident to the prolonged rainfall, explaining that the saturated ground weakened the hillside, causing the building above to collapse onto their home.
The grieving mother also dismissed suggestions that structural defects in her house caused the tragedy, insisting that the destruction resulted from the landslide triggered by the torrential rain.
Recounting how she received the news, Mrs Edu said she was called home while at her shop but was not informed of the situation until she arrived to find her house flattened.
She said neighbours used torchlights and digging tools in desperate rescue efforts, but four of the children had already died before they could be pulled from the rubble.
The surviving child, she disclosed, sustained injuries and is receiving treatment in Akwa Ibom State after being taken there by a family member.
Mrs Edu expressed gratitude that the survivor was responding positively to medical care but admitted she was struggling to cope emotionally with the loss.
She revealed that Cross River State Governor, Senator Bassey Otu, visited the family after the tragedy and later provided N2 million in financial support through her husband.
While appreciating the government’s gesture, she said no amount of financial assistance could compensate for the pain of losing four children in a single night.
The bereaved mother appealed to the government to take urgent steps to address the dangers posed by unstable hillsides in Ikot Anwatim to prevent similar disasters.
She also called on humanitarian organisations and well meaning Nigerians to support her family with accommodation, medical care, psychological support and assistance to restart her small business.
“I need a place to live, treatment for my heart and mind, and help to start a small business. No mother should ever experience this kind of pain,” she said.