Benue: Planned burial of 13 victims cancelled as mortician goes missing

By Peter Duru

The planned mass burial slated for Thursday, March 12, 2026, for the 13 persons brutally killed during a recent armed herdsmen incursion in Turan Community, Jato-Aka, Kwande Local Government Area, LGA, of Benue State has been put off.

Recall that the bereaved families and the Concerned Sons and Daughters of Turan Community had slated the burial for Thursday and the burial proceedings had been set in motion at Mbachom community, waiting for the arrival of the corpses from the mortuary.

However, a source in the area and a relation of one of the victims, who identified himself as Bemgba Numve, said the burial had to be called off following the inability of bereaved families to retrieve the remains of their loved ones from the mortuary.

According to him, “My brother was killed in the attack and we planned to bury all 13 of them today. Everybody is here for the burial and people also came from outside to witness the burial but we could not retrieve the bodies of our loved ones from the mortuary.

“We got to the mortuary and discovered that the mortician was not there. We learnt that he was taken away and there was nobody to release the corpses.

“It is unfortunate that some people do not want us to carry out the burial but they are our brothers and sisters and we have the right to bury them on our own terms.”

“Whoever took the mortician away will not determine how we will bury our brothers and sisters, and we will still fix another date to do it,” he added.

Efforts to reach the Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Udeme Edet, were unsuccessful.

The post Benue: Planned burial of 13 victims cancelled as mortician goes missing appeared first on Vanguard News.