Six School Children Drown as Boat Capsizes in Lagos

Tragedy struck today at the Irawe area of Ojo , Lagos, after a canoe conveying fourteen school children capsized. Six of them reportedly drowned and their bodies are yet to be found as you read this, while eight of them including the driver have been rescued.

The incident occurred after a fibre canoe reportedly ran into the passenger boat at about 9am today.

As at time of writing this report, Vanguard reports that the rescued children, some of whom were said to be primary school pupils and secondary school students who were on their way to school, were
responding to treatment at the Igando general hospital, where they were rushed to.

However, three of them said to have swam their way to safety were discharged from the hospital at about 5pm.

Officials of the Lagos State Emergency Management Authority,LASEMA who were contacted , reportedly stormed the scene to commence rescue work. But as at 7pm, bodies of the eight missing children were yet to be found.

The South West spokesperson for the National Emergency Management Agency , Ibrahim Farinloye confirmed the incident. He said :

“The 14 school children were being conveyed across Ojo to Irawe jetty, to school. Six children are yet to be recovered as I speak. Searches will continue tomorrow”