A 48-year-old widow and mother of six drowned in Kineti River in Torit town of South Sudan’s Eastern Equatoria State, authorities reported.
The woman, whose body was recovered on Sunday, was identified as Angelina Lakwac Solomon.
She was said to have struggled to cross the river with firewood for sale on her head when she slid and fell into the water.
A search by local youths retrieved her body after two days in the river.
Local residents said cases of drowning during rainy seasons have been alarming, attributing them to a lack of bridges to help the farming communities cross the river
Hai Mairo sub-chief Charles Ohisa told Radio Tamazuj that the people crossing the river often faced the risk of drowning and called on the government to erect bridges to help minimize tragedies.
“There was a woman coming from the bush to cross to the residential area in the evening hours. She was carrying firewood and struggled to cross the Kintei River,” he said.
Ohisa said the woman was a widow and her children were now total orphans.
The Executive Director for the Women Agency for Progress Organization, Flora Sebit Jada, expressed sadness about the tragedy and appealed to development partners to support the orphans
She cautioned the local residents to refrain from making trips across the bridge during heavy rains and floods.