The rains have come and while they might be a blessing to some, to yet another they can wreak great havoc on. The family of 12 year old Kehinde Popoola who drowned in a canal in Orilowo Ejigbo, Lagos State definitely don’t have anything to thank the rains for.
According to the Punch Metro, the victim was last seen when she was sent on an errand on Tuesday, June 9, 2015. She was alleged to have stopped to watch the movement of the canal which was flooded due to an earlier rainfall in the area. However, fate was not to be kind to her as she fell into the canal while watching the surge and was swept away.
An elderly man who was a witness to the incident was reported to have jumped in afterwards in a bid of saving her but he hit his head on a concrete iron which squashed his attempts and almost drowned him which led him to abandon his rescue mission.
The body of the 12 year old girl as at 5:20pm on Wednesday, June 10, 2015 was yet to be retrieved from the canal.
A Lagos State Fire Service official while confirming the incident which he said happened at about 2:00pm on that Tuesday was reported to the service on Wednesday.
He said, “The incident happened around 2pm on Tuesday. She was sent on an errand to buy the food that she would eat.
“When she got to the canal, she stood there, watching the surge. In the process of doing that, she lost her balance and fell into the canal.
“An elderly man tried to rescue her. But when he discovered that it might involve his life, he had to leave her. She was swept away.”
Her family, on arriving the scene having heard the noise, enlisted the service of some local rescue men who entered the water to find the body but were unable to. A source said, “They invited eight Hausa men to look for her. But they did not find her.”
The fire service was only alerted to the situation after the rescue efforts of the men had failed. The Lagos State Fire Service director, Mr. Rasak Fadipe, confirmed that the Ikotun Fire Service had responded as soon as they were aware of the incident.
He said, “Although the girl may have died by now, we are on ground to supervise the search.
“Our men, with the assistance of other people in the community, are not leaving any stone unturned to make sure the girl is brought out.”
