A 16-year-old boy named Miebaka Koko drowned on Saturday while swimming with friends in a river at Ogoloma community. The incident happened in Okrika Local Government Area of Rivers State.
Heavy rains had swollen the waterway significantly. Four teenagers went to Derock Waterside to swim that afternoon.
According to witnesses, Koko was swept away by a powerful current. His friends spotted him struggling and raced out of the water shouting for help.
Help came too late. The boy went under before rescue efforts could succeed.
Igwe Godswill is the Sector Commander of the Civilian Joint Task Force in Okrika. He confirmed the drowning and blamed dredging operations in the area.
"Companies have dredged almost all the waterfront areas," Godswill told reporters. "The dredging has made the river much deeper."
He explained that just one step from shore can now be dangerously deep. Security personnel including a police officer and soldiers from Sector 3 witnessed the tragedy.
Around 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, the four boys entered the water near Ogoloma. Within minutes, they emerged panic-stricken and a woman nearby began screaming.
Godswill and another man rushed to help. "At one point, we could only see his hands above the water," he noted.
The current proved too strong. A rescue attempt failed and Koko disappeared beneath the surface.
As of reporting time, his body hadn't been recovered. Community residents say bodies of drowning victims here typically take two to three days to surface.
Recovery operations in these rivers are notoriously slow and difficult. The dredging activities have created underwater hazards throughout Okrika.
Godswill appealed to parents to keep closer watch on their children. "Most of our rivers have been dredged and are now very dangerous," he warned.
He urged families to restrict swimming to safer locations. Monitoring children's movements could prevent future tragedies.
Police spokesperson ASP Blessing Kaborlo Agabe said Koko's family hadn't filed a formal complaint yet. The police are still making preliminary inquiries into what happened.
Agabe encouraged the family to lodge an official report. This would enable police to launch a proper investigation into the circumstances.
Residents remain shaken by Saturday's incident. The expanded waterways created by dredging have made swimming increasingly perilous across the region.
