Sallah tragedy: Police recover 4 dead bodies

The Marine police have recovered four dead bodies out of the 10 persons that drowned at the Lagos Bar Beach on Monday.
The four dead bodies, (males) were identified by the police as Dauda Adejumo, Idris Umaru, Lukmon Taofik and one other whose identity is not known immediately. The deceased were said to be among those playing football on the Beach before they were swept away by the surging ocean waves.

Confirming the recovery of the bodies, the State Police spokesman, Mr. Frank Mba, said the bodies had been deposited at the public morgue. He said their family members had come to identify them.
He said the State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Marvel Akpoyibo had instructed the Marine police to continue to comb the waterways to recover more bodies.

Mba said it was possible that bodies recovered were the only persons that drowned, as parents and guardians had failed to come up to declare their wards missing.
He, however, advised members of the public to report at Bar Beach police station if their young ones had gone picnicking on the beach and had not returned home.
But when Daily Sun reporters visited the Bar Beach yesterday, they saw two unclaimed bodies of some of the victims still lying at the bank of the beach.
One of the victim’s name was given as Idris Umaru. A man, who identified himself as Umaru said he was the deceased’s elder brother.

He said the 18-year-old Idris was only a month old in Lagos. According to him, he just came from Kano and decided to visit the Bar Beach to catch fun, before he met his untimely death.
Friends and well wishers were seen sitting near the remains of Idris, waiting for instruction from the chairman of Hausa community in Shogunle area where the deceased lived before his death, for the next line of action.
He was said to have gone to the Bar Beach police station to obtain police report before the body could be taken to Agege cemetary for burial.

An eyewitness, Mr. Segun Popoola, 41, appealed to the government to bring naval officers to search for more victims.
One Mr. Miracle Johnson, 20, was also seen at the Bar Beach using public address system, to appeal to holiday makers to keep safe distance from the surging ocean.
He told Daily Sun that the Monday tragedy was as a result of failure on the part of the victims to heed to instructions.
One of the victims was said to have boasted that he was a ‘Beach boy’ who had mastered the terrain.

By CHRISTOPHER OJI, UGWUMSINACHI SAMUEL & IFESINACHI OBI