Nigeria: Igbede Canoe Mishap - How 12 Children Lost Their Lives

As the people of Ojota community in Otto/Awori Local Council Development Area of Lagos State still grapple with the tragedy that befell the community couple of weeks ago after a rainstorm caused a canoe carrying several children to school including market women to the neighbouring community to capsize, killing eight of the children and the market women, more facts on how it happened have emerged.
Saturday Vanguard gathered that the canoe which was about 12ft long, had 21 children on board and two market women left the shores of Ojota community about 6:30am for Igbede community aboard the canoe without any safety measure in place. The paddler who resides in Igbede would be at Ojota community as early as 6:00am to carry children and market women to Igbede town.
At 6.30 am that fateful day, 21 children, two women including the wife of the Baale of Ojota boarded the canoe and they were paddled out of the precinct of their community bidding farewell to their parents and families. The children who were pupils of different primary schools were apparently used to the terrain since it was a daily routine to go by canoe to their various schools.
Their village, a very small community is separated by a river which they had to cross to reach their various schools. They were almost at the bank of the river after 30minutes paddling in the canoe when the tragedy occurred.
The hitherto calm atmosphere changed, following an unprecedented dark cloud which hampered vision. The violent wind which lasted for few minutes wrecked havoc and the canoe was thrown back into the middle of the river. All the children, the women and the paddler went down the river but a few of them are alive to tell the story.
Amazingly, Fawas Ayuba, a 6-year old boy of Caritas Biachi Nursery/Primary School, Igbede was saved by his school bag hanging on his back which prevented him from drowning.
This gives an indication that the pupils would have been saved if they had life-jackets on them. However, Yusuf Rufai, a 9-year old pupil on board swam through the river to the shores of his community. Yusuf who broke the news of the incident to the people of his community said he was trained on the techniques of swimming by his father and those were the things that came to his mind at the time of the mishap.