Secondary school pupils found floating on Osun River

The residents of the Ijetu area of Osogbo have
been thrown into mourning following the discovery
of the corpses of two pupils on the Osun River.
It was gathered that a woman had gone to the river
to fetch water when she found the corpses of the
two pupils floating on the river.
A resident of the area told our correspondent on
Thursday that the woman dropped her bucket and
ran back to the community where she raised the
alarm.
It was learnt that the matter was later reported to
the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps and a
rescue team from the agency was deployed in the
scene.
It was gathered that the pupils had gone missing
on Monday, while their parents and other relatives
had been looking for them.
The parents were said to have broken down in
tears on seeing the corpses of their children on
Wednesday when their bodies were recovered.
The pupils were identified as Samson Obasanjo
and Kabiru, pupils of Junior Secondary School 2 at
Ife-Oluwa Middle School, Osogbo.
Some persons said one of the two victims was
going to a bakery where he normally worked after
school hours when the incident happened.
But our correspondent, who visited the school
gathered that seven pupils had gone to the area
where the incident happened to pluck some fruits.
One of the victims was said to have jumped inside
the river to swim to the other side of the river
where a cherry tree was, but did not come out.
It was learnt that after a while,the second victim
reportedly jumped inside the river to see why the
first had not come out and he too disappeared.
The remaining five pupils were said to have waited
for the two victims to come out, but after the duo
did not come out, they were said to have sworn to
an oath that they would not disclose what
happened to their colleagues to anybody.
A resident of the area told our correspondent that
students of the school and other public schools
around the area were known for truancy.
The Head, Disaster Rescue Team of the NSCDC in
Osun State, Mr. Olufemi Awofade, who confirmed
the incident to our correspondent, said the team
had removed the corpses of the pupils.
He said after recovering the corpses of the pupils,
their parents took charge and called the worshipers
of Osun goddess to perform some rites on them
before burial at the riverbank.
Awofade said, “We got a call that a certain woman
went to fetch water at the Osun River on
Wednesday and she saw corpses on the water.”
The principals of School 2 and School 3 at Ife-
Oluwa Middle School declined comment.The two
principals told our correspondent, who visited the
school, that “we don’t grant press interviews.”