Police Arrest Two UNIBEN Students For Allegedly Drowning Colleague In Ekosodin River
Police Arrest Two UNIBEN Students For Allegedly Drowning Colleague In Ekosodin River
The Edo state police command has arrested two UNIBEN students for allegedly drowning their final-year colleague in Ekosodin River located in an off-campus community near the institution.
According to reports by Metrowatch, the incident occurred on Thursday afternoon after the trio embarked on a leisurely swimming trip to the Ekosodin River that fateful day. The deceased reportedly drowned after he got swept into the river by a strong current.
Reports further revealed the deceased was a final-year male student of Chemistry, Faculty of Physical Sciences; while the friends are 200-level and 500-level students of Biochemistry and Optometry, both males in the Faculty of Life Sciences.
A police source said, one of the surviving students, in his statement, admitted his inability to swim, while the other claimed to have voiced his concern over how risky it is during the rainy season even though he was eager to swim. However, according to them, the victim reportedly insisted on swimming and claimed to be a good swimmer.
Tragedy struck when the victim reportedly dived into the deepest part of the River and began to struggle, eventually drowning. All efforts to allegedly rescue their friend proved abortive. One of them, in his statement, claimed to have swam towards the victim but was dragged under the water by the boy, who was struggling for his life.
Desperate for help, the other surviving student claimed to have run to seek help from nearby individuals, but they claimed to be unable to swim. Realizing that they were unable to rescue their friend, both students reported the incident to men of the Ekosodin Vigilante, who subsequently involved the police.
Meanwhile, the tragic incident has thrown the entire University of Benin community into mourning. Though, Management of the University is yet to formally comment on the development.
However, as of the time of filing this report, the search for the victim’s body is underway, but as of now, has not yet been found.
