The soak-away |
A nine-year-old child, identified simply as Riliwan, fell into a
soak-away at Apata Street, Somolu area of Lagos and died on Thursday
morning.
Riliwan, 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.
He fell into the soak-away while trying pour away a bowl of dirty water that his parents had used in rinsing their hands after eating Sahur (Ramadan pre-dawn meal).
“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
soak-away, which gave way….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.“People rallied round and tried draining the water in the soak-away, before they were able to bring him out. But he had died” a resident disclosed.
May his soul rest in peace.