9yr Old Boy Drowns in a Soakaway Pit in Lagos

This happened yesterday, Thursday July 24th at Apata Street in the Somolu area of Lagos. A nine-year- old child, identified as Riliwan, fell into a soakaway pit and died. Riliwan, who until his death was a primary six pupil of a primary school in the area, was to attend his graduation ceremony that morning where he was billed to be given prizes for coming first in his class, when tragedy struck. According to Punch newspapers, a resident said his parents, who were devout Muslims, had sent him to pour away a bowl of dirty water they had rinsed their hands in after eating Sahur (Ramadan pre-dawn meal), when he fell into the pit. The resident, who did not want his name mentioned, said, "The incident happened around 4am. There was no power supply. His parents had finished eating the early morning meal, preparatory to the fasting, when they asked him to empty a bowl of dirty water inside the gutter. As he went out in the dark, he stepped on a covering on the soakaway, which gave way." Another resident said after his parents did not see him return, they became worried and searched everywhere for him. It was only about seven hours later that one of his foot wares was seen at the mouth of the soakaway. A"People rallied round and tried draining the water in the soakaway, before they were able to bring him out. But he had died," A crowd of sympathisers were seen in front of the house condemning the owner of the building for not sealing the soakaway before giving out the apartments. Our correspondent observed that there were two openings on the soakaway.The holes were said to be covered with used printing plate sheets. An angry resident ran to the place where the victim fell and pulled back one of the plates to the pit surface to demonstrate how "anybody could have fallen victim at that time of the night" "This house was completed four months ago and the owner did not deem it fit to cover the soakaway with slabs. This is evil, sheer wickedness," When our correspondent approached the father of the victim, he said he had no comment. "Please we have nothing to say. We don't want this matter blown out of proportion. We will be burying him soon,"Our correspondent could hear a woman wailing, "Riliwan, Riliwan" as people in the room tried consoling her. The deceased's father asked PUNCH Metro to leave the house, and the gate into the house was shut. Nobody was ready to point out the owner of the house for comment.

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