Boy, 7, Still Missing After Lautoka Flood
Grandmother and wife grieving for sudden loss; search continues for young Bola.
Vitogo villagers in Lautoka have continued their heartbreaking search for Sitiveni Gukirewa Bola, 7, who is still missing since the flood on Monday.
The search has been painful, especially for families and friends as Petero Savou Gukirewa, 56, young Bola’s grandfather, also died in the same flood. Families have said that young Bola and his grandfather left together at 10:30am on Easter Monday to go fishing and look for crabs.
Mr Gukirewa’s body was found at 10:30am on Wednesday by search parties, while young Bola remains missing.
A distraught widow and mourning grandmother, Asena Gukirewa, could not hold back tears as families visited their home in Vitogo Village yesterday.
“It was a usual trip that all the villagers made, to cross the Vitogo River to Naviago to look for crabs, but when the rest of the villagers had returned without them, that’s when we realised something was wrong,” Mrs Gukirewa said.
She said they contacted the village headman later in the evening of their departure, but the search was unsuccessful.
“The next morning (Tuesday) we crossed over the river and saw their footprints coming down from the banks on the far side of the river indicating that they were on their way home,” she said.
“Maybe they had tried to cross, but it is all in God’s hands now.”
According to Mrs Gukirewa, they would wait for the husband’s post mortem examination report to confirm the cause of death. Police spokesperson Inspector Jokatama Qio confirmed they had received reports of the missing pair.
Investigations continue.