Three Students Drown In River Niger While Returning From School In Anambra

Three students of Atani in Ogbaru Local Government Area of Anambra State, who drowned on Monday, 23/3/20, are yet to be found, THE WHISTLER gathered.

The children, said to be of same parents, were returning from school on the fateful day when the incident occurred.

Confirming the incident to our correspondent in Awka, the public relations officer of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, Anambra State Command, ASC Edwin Okadigbo, said the search for the missing children was still ongoing as at press time.

He said, “It was on 3/2020, at about 18:00hrs, that a distress call was reported to the NSCDC, Ogbaru Divisional office, that three students of Community Secondary School, Atani, capsized and were declared missing while paddling a canoe on the River Niger to their house.

“Preliminary investigations revealed the three students, who were on their way to Ochuche in Ogbaru LGA of Anambra State, were children of one Mr. Chukwuemeka of Urum-Etiti, Anam, in Anambra West but residing at Ochuche.

“The cause of the incident was attributed to river turbulence following the heavy downpour of March 23, 2020.Two out of the five students that were in the canoe, however, managed to survive the capsizing. Efforts are being intensified at recovering the missing three.”

The state commandant of the NSCDC, David Bille, it was gathered, has ordered discreet investigations of the incident.