Four Students Celebrating WASSCE Completion Drown at Lagos Beach

Four Students Celebrating WASSCE Completion Drown at Lagos Beach.

Tragedy struck at Elegushi Beach, in the Lekki area of Lagos State on Tuesday, after four teenagers drowned while swimming in the water, newspeakonline.com reported.

Ten secondary school leavers, ages 14 and 15, went to swim at the beach to celebrate the completion of their West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE).

They were said to be pupils of Kuramo Senior College, Lekki.

The spokesperson for the management of Elegushi Beach, Chief Ayuba Elegushi, in a statement, said the pupils were not properly registered.

He noted that the incident happened at a 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.

He noted that the incident happened at a 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.

The victims were said to have raised an alarm as the water swept them away.

Elegushi said some life guards plunged into the water and brought out six of the pupils.

“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.

The spokesperson said the two boys that were arrested told the police that they were chased from the beach before sneaking into the restricted section to swim.

“They wrote in their statements that they were chased from the first section they went to. Abass told them that they should not worry and he would take them to another part of the beach. He took them to another end of the beach where no one could see them,” Elegushi said.

The Lagos State Police Command spokesperson, SP Benjamin Hundeyin, confirmed the incident in a statement on Wednesday, adding that investigation is ongoing.

“The teenagers were from Kuramo Senior College, Lekki. Four of them are missing. They are two males and two females. Efforts are on to recover their bodies. We have yet to meet with the parents of the victims,” he said.