SIX children reportedly drowned when a canoe conveying 14 school children capsized on Wednesday July 1, 2015 morning at Irawe area of Ojo in Lagos State. Eight others, including the boat driver, were rescued. The incident occurred after a fibre canoe reportedly ran into the passenger boat at about 9 a.m. The rescued children, some of whom were said to be primary school pupils and secondary school students, were rushed to Igando General Hospital for treatment. Three of them who swam to safety, were discharged from the hospital at about 5.pm. Officials of Lagos State Emergency Management Authority (LASEMA ) reportedly stormed the scene to commence rescue operation. As at 7.pm., bodies of the six missing children, suspected to have drowned, were yet to be found. Responding, LASEMA ’s General Manager, Femi Oke-Osanyintolu, said the tragedy occurred at Irawe area when a fibre boat collided with a canoe conveying 14 children to their destination. Oke-Osanyintolu stated that eight children and the driver were rescued alive, with five of them taken to Igando General Hospital and three discharged. He said the other six other children were still missing and that rescue operation was still on to remove the children from the water. He disclosed that the children were not putting on live jackets when the accident occurred, adding that the rescue operation was handled by the Local Emergency Committee, led by the Executive Secretary of Ojo Local Government Area. LASEMA officials and others were still combing the water to see if they could get the other children, he added. South West spokesperson for National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Ibrahim Farinloye, also confirmed the incident. According to him, “The 14 school children were being conveyed across Ojo to Irawe jetty . Six children are yet to be recovered as I speak.” Search for more victims were expected to continue on Thursday July 2, 2015 morning.


dailyindependentnig.com/2015/07/six-children-drown-lagos-boat-crash/


Cc: lalasticlala

RIP

eeyah

My sincere condolence to the parents. :-(

may God grant the families the fortitude to bear the loss.