17th August, 2022
The body of one of the four students who drowned at Elegushi Beach, in Lekki area of Lagos State on Tuesday, has been recovered.
Police spokesman, Benjamin Hundeyin confirmed this on Wednesday, saying efforts were on to recover the bodies of three other students swept away by the beach,
Ten students of Kuramo Senior College, Lekki, aged between 14 and 15, were swimming at the beach to celebrate the completion of their Senior Secondary School National Examination Council of Nigeria (NECO) when four of them were swept away.
Six other students were said to have been rescued by local divers.
Chief Ayuba Elegushi, spokesperson for the Elegushi Beach Management, on Tuesday said the students were not properly registered.
According to him, the incident occurred at an unmanned section of the beach not open to the public.
“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,” he said in the statement obtained by The Punch.
“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.