Fire service men rescue boy from drowning in Lagos canal

Residents of Ejigbo, a densely populated Lagos suburb were full of praise after an 8-year-old boy, Onyeka Umeh, was rescued from drowning in a canal. The boy slipped and fell into a murky river while scavenging for plastic bottles that were washed into the river by last Sunday’s heavy downpour. Residents said they first sighted […]

Residents of Ejigbo, a densely populated Lagos suburb were full of praise after an 8-year-old boy, Onyeka Umeh, was rescued from drowning in a canal.

The boy slipped and fell into a murky river while scavenging for plastic bottles that were washed into the river by last Sunday’s heavy downpour.

Residents said they first sighted the victim and one of his friends around 2pm scavenging for waste plastic by the canal.

Tayo Ojo, a resident, said the two kids had a rice bag containing some items dangling from their shoulders.

“We first heard the cry for help from the second boy around 2:10pm, but the cry became intense some minutes later,” he said.

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Another resident, Kumuyi Fashakin, said the second boy stood helplessly from afar, while the victim struggled to save his life.

“I think it was a neighbour that called men of the Lagos State Fire Service. The rescuers arrived promptly and started putting out their equipment to fish the boy out of the water,” he added.

The Director, Lagos State Fire and Rescue Service, Adeseye Margaret, confirmed the incident.

She said officials of the State Fire and Rescue Service, indeed, rescued one eight-year-old boy, Onyeka Umeh, from an open water at the end of Pastor Ojediran Street behind Oba’s Palace’s Ejigbo.

She said the distress call was received at 3:20pm at the Ejigbo Fire Station and the agency’s rescue crew mobilised to salvage the sinking boy from the canal. 

The director said the boy was eventually handed over to the police from Ejigbo Division to reunite with his family after he was rescued.