4 more bodies washed ashore at Lagos bar beach

Divers at the Lagos Bar Beach say four bodies, including a two year old boy, were recovered Monday morning, bringing the number of those confirmed dead in Saturday’s ocean surge to eight.

Controversy still trails the number of people who died in the unfortunate incident which occurred last Saturday.

One person had died Saturday after the Atlantic Ocean charged into Kuramo Beach in Lagos; while three bodies were recovered Sunday morning.

When the Nigerian Tribune visited the beach on Monday, one of the bodies seen, which was one of the four recovered on Monday, was that of a man, while there was nobody around, as of the time of the visit, to aid in its identification or evacuation.

The latest corpse washed ashore, at the time of filing this report, made it a total of eight recovered bodies, as seven bodies had earlier been recovered. However, according to information gathered, many people are still believed to be missing.

Mr Abe Edwards, who identified himself as the secretary of the security unit of Kuramo Beach, disclosed that he had personally identified no fewer than four bodies, adding that there was the possibility that more bodies would be recovered as time went on.

“I cannot really quantify the total number of people that died, because more bodies are recovered almost on daily basis. Today, the body of a baby girl, perhaps not more than a few months old, was recovered, while another, which has been identified as Olumide, has also been recovered.

“As you may know, it was a case of a surge, not just mere drowning. Therefore, it is not impossible that some bodies could be trapped in sand, and this would take excavation to find,” he said.

Also speaking to the Nigerian Tribune on the development, Mr Steve Richard, who identified himself as a frequent fun seeker at Kuramo and who claimed to have been around when the incident happened, insisted that apart from those who were swept away from their homes by the water, no fewer than four security personnel, who had attempted to rescue some of the people, also died in the process.

Following the incident, the Lagos State government rolled bulldozers into the beach, demolishing all the shanty structures around.

Wednesday 22 August 2012

http://tribune.com.ng/index.php/lead-stories/46262-4-more-bodies-washed-ashore-at-lagos-bar-beach