An eyewitness has narrated how two senior secondary school
pupils of Alex Commercial Secondary School, Idua in Eket , Akwa Ibom State were
drowned in Qua River on Friday.The pupils, Aniekan Harry and Uche Okoli –
hailed from Uruan and Eastern Obolo LGAs.
A pupil, Owen Oscar, said him and seven others had left
school that day without telling the school’s management where they were going.
He stated that many of them did not do their first term
examinations as they left for a football match against one of their rivals,
which was later postponed.
“But some of us were not in school that day to write
examination. I went home, changed my clothes, and left for one of our friend’s
house (Elijah), to tell him of the match postponement.
“We all agreed to go to Qua River close to Hospital Road,
Eket to play football. When they finished playing football, the victims said
that they were tired and they wanted to swim in the river,” he said.
According to him, they advised the victims (Harry and Okoli)
not to go but they refused and went ahead to swim in the river.
He explained that he and other pupils asked them not to go
to the river, that the river is too deep for them to swim, but they asked to be
left alone.
He said, “Then, I told them to wait, let everybody swim
together but they insisted and went ahead to swim while the six others were
watching them. But a little while after, we did not see them anymore.
“We now called the marine policemen that were around to come
to our aid. The marine policemen now called people around to search for the
victims but to no avail.
“The marine policemen advised us to go to their parents and
tell them what happened and return their bags to their houses,” he said.
A principal of the school, Asuquo Ekong, who confirmed that
two students drowned in Qua River, said a female teacher called him in the
night of the incident to inform him of the sad occurrence.
“I have interrogated them but they are giving me conflicting
versions of the incident,” Ekong said.
The principal said the school management was not aware of
the match between his school and the rival school.
Ekong noted that if there were to be any match, the rival
school would officially write to inform the school.
“The school management was not aware of their plan to play
football with any rival school, they left the school without the knowledge of
the school management,” he said.
He said that on the day of the incident, he supervised the
examinations and after the examinations, he left for Ikot Abasi for a friend’s
marriage.
A relation to one of the victims, Mrs. Mercydonia Harry,
alleged that the six students who survived went to initiate her brother into
cultism.
She described the incident as worrisome and so pathetic,
saying that the duo was innocent.
0 Comments