Elegushi Drowning: Family Shuts down Beach, Reveal Own Side of the Story

The Elegushi Royal Family, owners of Elegushi Beach, has announced the closure of the relaxation centre following the death of two postgraduate students of the University of Lagos on June 5th 2016.

Adesola Ogunmefun and Funmi Odusina were submerged by strong tides with their friend, Bolu at Elegushi beach where they were attending a birthday party. Bolu was reported to have survived.

The Lagos State Police Command arrested two managers of the beach last week.

According to PUNCH, representatives of the family, led by the Asiwaju of Ikate land, Prince Olanrewaju Elegushi, while addressing journalists on Saturday said the closure was to ensure improved operations, abolish touting and institute an insurance system that would cover accidents at the beach.

He went on to say that the deaths were not caused by poor safety facilities, noting that the deceased were warned by guards not to go beyond the red flag

“Two things happened and it is unfortunate that we may have to reopen wounds: The red flag was on as of the time the victims were going for swimming and our guards did warn them but they insisted.

Aside from that, immediately they were rescued, rather than allow our experts to do their recovery work, their friends hijacked them (the victims) from them (the operators) and drove them away. It is very sad and we once again commiserate with the families.

We may not have the best practices when it comes to beach management but I can tell you that the safety measures at the Elegushi Beach will be difficult to come by anywhere else. This is evidenced by the prompt response by our lifeguards who dived into the water to rescue the victims. None of them died on the spot as being peddled about,” he said.