A member of a church reportedly drowned at Elegushi Beach in Lagos State on Saturday during a church hangout.
QUEST TIMES has learned that the 34-year-old man, identified as John, was a member of a church based in Ikorodu.
It was discovered that the unnamed church organized a picnic on Saturday, October 28th, for its youth group, of which the late John was a part. The incident occurred as the group was preparing to leave the beach that Saturday afternoon, but they couldn’t find John anywhere.
Consequently, church members initiated a search when they learned that someone had seen him enter the water. Lifeguards and divers were alerted, but their efforts to locate him in the water that Saturday evening were unsuccessful.
His body was eventually recovered by lifeguards on Tuesday afternoon at the beach. An anonymous source who witnessed the event stated, “A church from Ikorodu had come to Elegushi beach for a hangout on Saturday. They were young people who came to have fun, with about 35 of them present that Saturday.”
“In the late afternoon, as they were preparing to leave, they conducted a headcount to ensure everyone was accounted for. That’s when they realized that one of them, John, was missing.”
“They began searching for him that evening. Someone informed them that he had been seen walking towards the water, thinking he knew how to swim.”
“The group then summoned lifeguards and divers to aid in the search that Saturday, but they only found his body yesterday, on Tuesday, around 1 p.m., when they recovered it at the beach,” the source added.
The State Police Public Relations Officer, Benjamin Hundeyin, also confirmed the incident. The Superintendent of Police noted, “The victim’s family has been contacted, and the body of the victim has been taken to Yaba General Hospital for an autopsy.”