Four secondary school graduates who just finished writing their senior secondary school exams have drowned at the Elegushi beach in Lagos while celebrating the completion of their secondary school education.
It was gathered that about 10 students between the ages 14-16 decided to storm the beach to celebrate finishing their final exams .
Findings show that they were students of Kuramo Senior College in the Lekki area of Lagos Island.
Chief Ayuba Elegushi, the spokesman for the beach revealed via a written statement that the students weren’t properly registered as they got to the beach using a backdoor.
He further explained that the incident happened at an unmanned section of the beach that is not open to the public.
His statement reads in part “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.”
The victims were said to have raised the alarm as the water swept them away.
He said some life guards dived into the sea 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 through an unknown route to swim.
He said, “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.”
Meanwhile, the Lagos state Police Public Relations Officer, Benjamin Hundeyin, confirmed the incident, adding that investigation was ongoing.
He said, “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.”
The spokesperson for the Lagos State Waterways Authority, Saheed Adesanya, said he would confirm the incident and get back to our correspondent.
The identities of the drowned students are yet to be identified but effort are still in place to retrieve their bodies from the sea.