Tragic Drowning of Two Students in Imo River

Two young men, thought to be students of the Federal Polytechnic Nekede in Owerri, tragically drowned in the Otammiri River, located in the Imo State capital.

The unfortunate event reportedly took place on Saturday when the victims went swimming in the river along with some peers.

An eyewitness, speaking to Punch, noted that the group had intended to swim and take photos at the river. According to this source, a local resident had cautioned the swimmers against entering the water, especially as evening approached, but their warnings were disregarded.

The witness further explained that the victims ventured into deeper waters, where they lost their footing and subsequently drowned.

Destiny Nwosu, President of the Student Union Government at the Federal Polytechnic Nekede, confirmed that the drownings did occur, yet he mentioned that it has not been verified whether the deceased are indeed students of their institution.

“Yes, I heard that two individuals drowned at the Otammiri River, but as of now, we have not confirmed that they were students of our school,” Nwosu stated.

He added, “Currently, I cannot ascertain if they were students from Nekede Federal Polytechnic, another school within the state, or even if they were students at all.”

The Public Relations Officer of the institution, Dr. Ike Ibe, echoed similar sentiments, asserting that the management was unaware of the incident.

“The school management is not aware of such an incident,” Ibe commented.

Meanwhile, Daniel Promise, President of the National Association of Imo State Students from Federal Polytechnic Nekede, expressed that he learned of the tragedy through a circulating video on social media.

“I saw the video online, but up until this moment, we have not validated that they were students from our school. No classmates or individuals have confirmed the identities of the victims,” he explained.

Nevertheless, reports have surfaced identifying one of the victims as Chukwudi Okwuchukwu, a student in the National Diploma I Computer Science program. The second individual, known just as Igwilo, was allegedly a companion of one of the four swimmers present.

Sources disclosed that the remains of the victims have since been retrieved and transferred to a morgue.