Residents of Sarai Village in the Dawakin Kudu Local Government Area of Kano State were thrown into confusion on Thursday after the body of a 96-year-old woman was discovered inside a soakaway pit.

The Public Relations Officer of the Kano State Fire Service, Saminu Abdullahi, confirmed the incident in a statement made available to PUNCH Online on Friday.

Abdullahi said the agency?s Emergency Response Unit received a distress call from one Usman Adamu on Thursday, reporting that an elderly woman had fallen into a toilet pit in Sarai Village.

?The Kano State Fire Service, under the leadership of the Director, Sani Anas, received a distress call from Usman Adamu at about 9:27 am on Thursday, November 6, 2025, reporting the tragedy of a woman falling into a toilet pit in Sarai Village, Dawakin Kudu Local Government Area,? the statement partly read.

?Our rescue team from the agency?s headquarters arrived at the scene and found a 96-year-old woman identified as Habiba Ado, whose relatives said she had been suffering from mental illness,? he added.

Abdullahi explained that the relatives had been searching for her for four days before her body was discovered in the pit on Thursday.

?They also appealed to the owner of the house to cover the pit to prevent such incidents from happening in the future,? he said.

He added that the rescue team recovered the woman from the pit, but she was confirmed dead.

Her remains have since been handed over to the Ward Head, Alhaji Musa Muhammad, for burial according to Islamic rites.

In April 2022, PUNCH Online reported that a 40-year-old man identified as Muazu Garba lost his life in a failed attempt to recover his mobile phone, which fell into a pit toilet at Jirgiya Quarters, Nassarawa Local Government Area of Kano State.

The spokesman for the state Fire Service, Saminu Abdullahi, who confirmed the sad incident to our correspondent, said, ?On Thursday, April 28, 2022, our formation received an emergency call from one Abbas Abubakar, who reported the incident at Jigirya Nassarawa Local Government Area.?

Similarly, in January 2023, two brothers were killed in a sewage tank in Kano State.

The Public Relations Officer for Kano State Fire Service, Saminu Abdullahi, identified the victims as Musa Abdullahi and Rabiu Abdullahi, aged 27 and 17, respectively. (PUNCH)

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