UNIPORT : Marine Engineering student dies in swimming pool

Okafor Ofiebor/Port Harcourt

A first year student of Faculty of Marine Engineering, Rivers state University (RSU) has drowned inside the Olympic size swimming pool of the University of Port Harcourt.

The student  visited UNIPORT Olympic size swimming pool for leisure swimming on Sunday when the incident happened.

Sequel to the sad incident, the management of the University of Port Harcourt has banned, what it described as ‘pleasure swimming’, in its Olympic-size swimming pool in the university’s Abuja campus.

Vice Chancellor of the Institution, Prof. Owunari Abraham Georgewill, confirmed the incident in a statement on Monday.

He said the ban became necessary following the unfortunate death of a year-one student of the Rivers State University (RSU) who used the facility for leisure swimming on Sunday, September 12 alongside his three friends.

Georgewil said: “We wish to inform all staff and students that the University of Port Harcourt swimming pool is an Olympic size swimming pool and henceforth, we are placing a ban on pleasure swimming in the pool.”

“Kindly bear with us as this is done to forestall further unfortunate incidents as it happened yesterday Sunday 12th September 2021. We lost a student of Rivers State University who came to swim for leisure with his three friends.”

The student who was identified as Emmanuel was an undergraduate of RSU’s Department of Marine Engineering

The late Emmanuel’s body has been deposited at University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital mortuary, while his three friends have been  arrested and detained at the Choba police station for questioning.

However, students of UNIPORT criticized the management of the institution for not deploying a swimming instructor to the swimming pool, especially at weekends when people visit the pool for leisure.

A student who does not want his name mentioned said: “I mourn with family of the bereaved. But I blame UNIPORT management for allowing easy access to the Pool without a swimming instructor. “