GLOOMY: 2 missing secondary school students found dead in Osun River

Corpses of two students of Ifeolu Secondary School, Osogbo, were yesterday found floating on River Osun by a woman who had gone to fetch water, Vanguard reports.

The incident threw the people of Ijetu area of the town into confusion.

Though what led to the death of the students could not be ascertained at press time, a resident of the area told Vanguard the woman, on discovering the corpses, dropped her bucket and ran to the street, where she raised an alarm.

Based on her action, the case was reported to the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC, and a rescue team from the agency was immediately deployed to the scene.

A source told Vanguard that the students had gone missing since Monday and their parents had been looking for them, adding that the parents were said to have broken down in tears on seeing the corpses of their children.

The pupils were identified as Samson Obasanjo, a student of Junior Secondary School 2, while the second boy, who was identified simply as Kabiru, was also in the same class as Obasanjo.

The Head, Disaster Rescue Team of NSCDC in Osun State, Mr. Olufemi Awofade, who confirmed the incident to Vanguard, said the team had removed the corpses of the students.

He said that after recovering the students’ corpses, their parents took charge and called worshippers of Osun goddess to perform certain rites according to Yoruba tradition, before they would be buried at the river bank.

Awofade said: “They told us that a woman went to fetch water at Odo Osun on Wednesday and saw corpses in the water.

“She was said to have run back and told the people around and information got to us. We moved to the river and brought out the bodies, who we later discovered to be students of Ifeolu Secondary School.

“They called Osun worshippers to perform some rites on the corpses before they could be buried.”