Tragedy struck on Tuesday at the Elegushi Beach, in the
Lekki area of Lagos State, after four teenagers drowned while swimming in the
water.
10 secondary school leavers, aged between 14 and 15, went to
swim at the beach to celebrate the completion of their West African Senior
School Examination.
They were said to be pupils of the Kuramo Senior College,
Lekki.
The spokesperson for the Elegushi Beach Management, Chief
Ayuba Elegushi, in a statement on Tuesday, said the pupils were not properly
registered.
He noted that the incident happened at an unmanned section
of the beach not open to the public.
He said, “We initially sent them away from the area of the
beach they wanted to swim in. Then, they went to another place that was not for
the public at all. It was the child of our kinsman, Abass, who took them from
school to the beach and those kids followed him.
“They did not pay any gate fee to access the beach. Abass
used the leverage that he was one of us to take them through another place.”
The victims were said to have raised the alarm as the water
swept them away.
Elegushi said some life guards plunged into the water and
brought out six of the pupils.
“Out of the six that
were rescued, some escaped by the time we got there. We were able to arrest two
of them and we took them to the Jakande Police Station.
“As of now, there are still four missing as our seamen have
not been able to bring them out of the water. We have informed their parents
and they have come to the police station.
“Abass is one of the missing kids. There is another boy we
have not identified and two other girls,” he added.
The spokesperson said the two boys that were arrested told
the police that they were chased from the beach before sneaking into the
restricted section to swim.
He said, “They wrote in their statements that they were
chased from the first section they went to. Abass told them that they should
not worry and he would take them to another part of the beach. He took them to
another end of the beach where no one could see them.”
The state Police Public Relations Officer, Benjamin
Hundeyin, confirmed the incident, adding that investigation was ongoing.
He said, “The teenagers were from Kuramo Senior College,
Lekki. Four of them are missing. They are two males and two females. Efforts
are on to recover their bodies. We have yet to meet with the parents of the
victims.”
The spokesperson for the Lagos State Waterways Authority,
Saheed Adesanya, said he would confirm the incident and get back to our
correspondent.
He had yet to do so as of the time of filing this report.
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