Four World
Bank officials have drowned at Egbe Dam in Egbe Ekiti, Gbonyin Local Government
Area of Ekiti State, South-West Nigeria, the News Agency of Nigeria is
reporting.
Egbe Dam
is the biggest of the six dams in the state.
Folasade
Akinrinmola, the chairman of the council and the state police command confirmed
the incident to journalists on Thursday.
Mr.
Akinrinmola said the incident which occurred on Wednesday night involved a team
of seven contractors employed by the World Bank on an assessment mission to the
dam.
She said
the team commenced work on Tuesday night from a section of the dam and that the
incident happened when they moved to the other section on Wednesday.
She said
the traditional ruler of Egbe notified her of the incident.
“We
immediately mobilised a rescue team and an ambulance, and in the process, those
wearing life jackets were rescued.
“The
rescued people were the ones who told us that others were in the water.
“The
bodies of those that had drowned were later retrieved by the local fishermen.”
“One of
the dead victims was said to be the son of the leader of the team who
providentially escaped unhurt.
“We
believe that they came to Ekiti based on some of the proposals we had written
on the dam on how it can be put to use.
“We
believe that the World Bank has started work on the dam based on their
findings,” she said.
The
council boss, who described the incident as sad and unfortunate , added that
the bodies of the dead had since been deposited at the mortuary in Ode-Ekiti,
the headquarters of the council area.
Alberto
Adeyemi, the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) of the Ekiti State Police
Command, also confirmed the incident.
“It is
true that the boat transporting the team capsized, four of them died while three
survived,” Mr. Adeyemi, a deputy superintendent of police, said.
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