by Rachel Ogbu

The burial of a 14-year-old student took place yesterday by the riverside where he drowned in Lagos.

Feyipitan Owonifaari, a JSS II pupil of Ikosi High School, Ketu, Lagos, died in the WayBridge River, Owode-Onirin, Lagos on Tuesday morning, while swimming with his brother, Farouk and a neighbour, Muis Ajisafe, 12,.

A family member told reporters that his 15th birthday was in two weeks’ time.

According to reports, officials of Merchant Navy attached to Lagos State Emergency Agency recovered his body from the river by on Wednesday morning.

The family spoke on their reaction when the deceased passed away.

“We were swimming at a distance away from him. Suddenly we heard him shouting for help. When we looked back, it was only his hands that we saw above the water as it carried him away,” Ajisafe said.

Farouk explained that he and Ajisafe could swim well but Owonifaari was a beginner: “I swam immediately to him and tried to pull him out, but he was too heavy. I had to let him go.”

Owonifaari’s father, Ade, who is a teacher, said: “I was on Lagos Island yesterday (Tuesday) at around midday when his mother called me and told me that Feyipitan went to swim and could not be found.

“I hurried back home and went to the riverside, but I could not find him. This morning, some government agencies recovered his body. He was a gentle boy, it baffled me that he would have gone to the river to swim.”

His mother, Omolara, who works for the state Neighbourhood Watch, said:

“I was washing clothes at around 11am when his brother, Farouk, came running and told me that Feyipitan had been carried away by the river. I had warned Feyipitan and his brother earlier to stop swimming in the river, but they did not listen. I had three children; Feyipitan was my second child. ”

The Punch reports:

One of the rescuers, Martins Akinnubi, said children in the community were in the habit of swimming across the river to pluck mangoes at the other side.

“Perhaps, that was what Feyipitan and his brother were trying to do when he was swept away by the river,” he said.

Our correspondent, who visited the site of the incident, saw Owonifaari’s body was in a bag by the banks of the river as his family was preparing to bury him.

Ajisafe told PUNCH Metro that he did not know the reason for the incident.

The General Manager of LASEMA, Dr. Femi Oke-Osayintolu, who confirmed the incident, said the victim’s body had been handed over to his family.

Police recover corpse of seven-year-old pupil

The corpse of a seven-year-old boy, Olamide Ayeni , who was swept away by flood in Ado Ekiti on Sunday night has been found.

Our correspondent gathered that Olamide’s corpse was found by some policemen at around Housing area.

The Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Mr. Victor Babayemi, confirmed to our correspondent on the telephone that the body of the boy was found by policemen.

He said the father of the boy had come to identify the corpse.

Olamide, who followed his elder sister, Faith, who was sent on an errand on Sunday night missed his step while returning home after the rain and fell into the drainage channel and was swept away.