What was meant to be a colourful Christmas celebration went awry on Friday after a 14-year-old boy, Samson Akingbade, drowned in a swimming pool of a hotel in Ijako, Sango-Ota, Ogun State.
It was learnt that Akingbade and his friends had gone to the hotel to have fun, playing around the premises.
They were said to have extended the fun to the swimming pool section of the hotel, navigating it with glee.
Our correspondent gathered that he drowned in the process but his friends did not realise in time.
After some hours, his body was said to have floated, resulting in a pandemonium at the facility.
A source told Sunday PUNCH that some angry youths blamed Akingbade’s death on poor management on the part of the operators, and attempted to vandalise the hotel.
He said, “The boy was swimming in the hotel and drowned. As a result of that, some youths stormed the hotel to foment trouble but the police responded promptly to douse the tension and restore normalcy.
“The boy went to the hotel with his friends. The problem is that the hotel does not have a lifeguard. It was an avoidable death if they had a lifeguard.”
Another source explained that the hotel was abruptly shut down to avert a riot, adding that the boy’s corpse was evacuated by the police from Sango Division.
He stated, “I learnt that the boy and his friends came from Sango but I don’t know their address. It was police intervention that doused the tension. Youths were angry that the hotel failed to provide a lifeguard who could have observed that the boy had drowned and rescued him.”
The police spokesperson in the state, SP Abimbola Oyeyemi, confirmed Akingbade’s death, adding that his corpse had been deposited in a mortuary for autopsy.
He said, “One Samson Akingbade, 14, was at the hotel with his friends. They were swimming when he drowned. Some boys wanted to attack the hotel but the police quickly took over the situation and restored normalcy.”