A middle-aged man, whose identity was not known at press time, drowned in a river during a downpour on Friday night at Eyin Ala area of Akure, the Ondo State capital.
According to an eyewitness, the man met his untimely death after he rescued a pregnant woman who fell into the river during the downpour and was about to be swept away.
The eyewitness said during the downpour, the whole area was flooded and the pregnant woman was passing by when she fell but that the ‘Good Samaritan’ rushed at her and saved her from slipping into the river.
He said, “During the heavy rain, everywhere was flooded in the area and it was very difficult to identify the road from the river. As the pregnant woman was passing through the flooded road, she suddenly fell into a gutter beside the river
As she was struggling to get out of the flooded gutter, the man (deceased) rushed at the woman and rescued her from being swept into the river but unfortunately the woman was rescued while the rescuer was swept away by the river.”
When contacted on the matter, the Police Public Relations Officer of the Ondo State Command, Mr Femi Joseph, confirmed the incident and said the command had commenced investigation into the matter.
He said, “It’s very unfortunate that the incident happened and the man died while trying to rescue another person. We have yet to know the identity of the deceased but we have recovered the corpse and investigation has begun.”
The PPRO added that the corpse had been deposited at the morgue of the Ondo State Specialist Hospital, Akure.