Tears flowed freely at WayBridge River, Owode-Onirin, Lagos on Wednesday as the family of a 14-year-old JSS II pupil of Ikosi High School, Ketu, Lagos, Feyipitan Owonifaari, prepared to bury his remains by the riverside.
Feyipitan drowned in the river on Tuesday morning, while swimming with his brother, Farouk.His body was retrieved from the river by officials of Merchant Navy attached to Lagos State Emergency Agency on Wednesday morning.
Reporters, who visited the site of the incident, saw Owonifaari’s body was in a bag by the banks of the river as his family was preparing to bury him.A family member, who pleaded anonymity, said Owonifaari’s 15th birthday was in two weeks time. He explained that Feyipitan went to swim with Farouk, 11, and a neighbour, Muis Ajisafe, 12.
He said, “We were swimming at a distance away from him. Suddenly we heard him shouting for help. When we looked back, it was only his hands that we saw above the water as it carried him away.”Farouk, who was weeping profusely, said, “I swam immediately to him and tried to pull him out, but he was too heavy. I had to let him go.”
He added that while he and Ajisafe were good swimmers. Feyipitan was just learning to swim.
One of the rescuers, Martins Akinnubi, said children in the community were in the habit of swimming across the river to pluck mangoes at the other side.
“Perhaps, that was what Feyipitan and his brother were trying to do when he was swept away by the river,” he said.
The General Manager of LASEMA, Dr. Femi Oke-Osayintolu, who confirmed the incident, said the victim’s body had been handed over to his family.
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Sad..
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