A 200-level student of the Department of Dentistry, School of
Medicine, University of Lagos, Unilag, Idi-Araba, Eniola Abiola has
drowned.
The incident occurred at the Elegushi Beach, Ikate, in Eti-Osa Local
Government Area, of Lagos, southwest Nigeria, where the deceased was
attending a friend’s birthday party.
Abiola was reported to have got to the party at 8:15 p.m. and later
joined her friends a few meteres away from the shoreline to take
photographs.
An eyewitness said that while they were posing for a snapshot, a heavy wave suddenly arose and rolled fiercely to the shore.
“The wave came the first time, but receded. It came a second time,
and floored her. As she tried to escape like others, a third one came
and swept her away,” she said.
However, rescue effort was impossible at the time, as the life guards
at the beach were said to have closed at about 5 p.m. on the fateful
day.
When the reporters visited Abiola’s school this morning, few of her classmates were seen discussing the incident.
Her class representative, simply identified as Seun, said her classmates were still in shock and that they would miss her.
The President, Unilag Students Union, Wale Peters, said: “The death
was unfortunate, because the deceased was an easy-going, brilliant and
lively girl.”
Effort to get the university to officially comment on the matter was abortive.
But an official, who pleaded not to be named because he was not
authorised to speak, said the university cannot bear responsibility for
Abiola’s death since it occurred outside the school environment.
The deceased father, Dr. Eniola, an eye doctor and university staff was not available for comment at the time of this report.
