A 14-year-old girl, identified as Favour Appiah, has allegedly drowned in the swimming pool of a hotel in Effurun, Uvwie Local Government Area of Delta State.
The incident which happened Sunday, August 15; caused pandemonium in the hotel.
The hotel, located along Jakpa Road, is one of the biggest hotels in Effurun, is also used as a Covid-19 quarantine centre by several oil companies.
Eyewitnesses at the hotel alleged negligence on the part of the management of the hotel as the cause of the death of the teenager, as there was no pool attendant when the girl drowned.
A source said, the deceased was declared missing at the hotel premises, until her lifeless body was discovered at the bottom of the deepest part of the pool.
“We searched everywhere when we could not found her. We thought she might have gone to change. We checked but we didn’t see her until we draw the attention of the hotel to the incident.
“The pool attendant was not there when the incident happened. When the pool attendant came he refused to enter the water may be he can’t swim. No one could see the bottom of the water.
“It was one of the receptionists who had just resumed who entered the pool to search if she was there. Lo and behold, she had drowned and was lying at the deep part of the pool,” he said.
The remains of the teenage girl were later evacuated and deposited at the mortuary of the Central Hospital Warri, by the management of the hotel.
It was however gathered that the hotel management did not report the incident to the police until Monday.
The Manager of the hotel, who confirmed the incident to journalists in Warri, declined to give further details.
She, however, promised to give further details later through another staff of the hotel.
Repeated efforts to get official response on the sad incident were rebuffed as calls and text message to the hotel manager were not acknowledged.
Meanwhile, Delta State Police Command Spokesman, DSP Bright Edafe, confirmed the incident.