Two secondary school pupils drown in A’Ibom river

TWO senior secondary school pupils of Alex Commercial Secondary School, Idua in the Eket Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State, Aniekan Harry and Uche Okoli, have drowned in Qua River.

An eyewitness, Peter Okon, said the drowned pupils, Harry and Okoli, hailed from Uruan and Eastern Obolo LGAs, adding that the incident occurred between 11am and 12pm on Thursday.

It was learnt that the two pupils and six others had gone to play football near the river.

One of the other six pupils, Owen Oscar, said the group left the school premises for a football match.

He said the school authorities did not have knowledge of the football match as the school was in the middle of its first term examinations.

He, however, said the match was eventually postponed.

Oscar said, “Some of us were not in school that day to write our exam. I went home, changed my clothes, and left for one of our friend’s (Elijah’s) house to tell him of the match postponement.

“We all agreed to go to Qua River close to Hospital Road, Eket, to play football.

“When they finished playing football, the victims said that they were tired and they wanted to swim in the river.”

Oscar said Harry and Okoli were advised not to swim in the river because it was deep and many people had drowned in it in the past, but they ignored the advice and went ahead to swim.

He said, “Then I told them to wait and said we all should go and swim, but they insisted on going while the six others were watching them. But a little while after, we did not see them anymore.

“We called the marine policemen staying around to come to our aid. The marine policemen then called people around to search for the victims, but to no avail.

“The marine policemen advised us to go to their parents and tell them what happened and return their bags to their houses.”

The Principal of Alex Commercial Secondary School, Asuquo Ekong, confirmed that two pupils attended the school, adding that he learnt about the tragedy when a female teacher called him on Thursday night and broke the news  to him.

The principal said the school management was not aware of the football match between his school and the rival school.

Ekong noted that if there were to be any match, the rival school would officially write to inform his school.

“The school management was not aware of their plan to play football with any rival school; they left the school without the knowledge of the school management,” he said.

A relation to one of the victims, Mrs. Mercydonia Harry, however, alleged that the six pupils who survived went to initiate her brother into cultism.

It was learnt that the corpses of the drowned pupils were removed from the sea on Saturday as they were seen floating on the surface of the water.

The Eket Divisional Police Headquarters was said to have witnessed the removal of the corpses before they were taken to the creeks for burial.

The Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Mr. Bala Elkana, confirmed the incident that the students went to swim in the river.

“The police are aware of the incident and the corpses have been recovered,” Elkana said.

He said though swimming in the river was not a crime, parents and their wards should be cautious.

“They have their right to go to where they want to go, but I advise people to be careful when they go to swim and think about their safety first,” he said.

Elkana said the incident had nothing to do with cultism, adding that the students only went to the river to swim.