At least four students of the Kuramo Senior College, Lekki, drowned while swimming at the Elegushi Beach in the Lekki area of Lagos State.
Reports revealed that 10 of them, aged 14 and 15, were at the beach to celebrate their passing out of Senior Secondary School, following the completion of their West African Senior School Examination.
However, four of the students drowned while swimming.
Elegushi Beach Management spokesperson, Chief Ayuba Elegushi in a statement on Tuesday said the pupils sneaked into a section of the beach not meant for the public after they were disbanded from their initial spot.
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 students raised alarm when they began to drown and the beach’s lifeguards swung into action, rescuing six out 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.
Elegushi said the two boys arrested confirmed to the police that they were chased from the section they were swimming in before they sneaked into a 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.”
Confirming the incident, the state Police Public Relations Officer, Benjamin Hundeyin said an investigation was ongoing on the case.
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.”
When contacted, the Lagos State Waterways Authority spokesperson, Saheed Adesanya, as of press time is yet to revert with any comment on the incident.
