A 19-year-old student, Mwafor Emmanuel, drowned while swimming in the river in the Owena area of Ondo State.

It was gathered that the tragic incident happened on Thursday.

Emmanuel was a Senior Secondary School student II of Owena Community Grammer School, located in Ondo East Local Government Area of the State.

According to Daily Trust, several sources said the deceased had left his school uniform and sandals at the bank of the river before he drowned.

One of them, Joseph Akinlolu, explained that a search party that was quickly set up sighted the ‘dead body’ of Mwafor after the students raised the alarm.

“He (Emmanuel) had gone to the river, which was at the back of the school, to swim. It was later other students discovered that they could no longer see him.

“Immediately a search party was put in place. We started searching everywhere but we noticed he had already drowned and his dead body floated at the end of the river,” one of the sources said.

It was further gathered that the incident had already thrown the entire community and students of the school into mourning.

The State Police Public Relations Officer, unmilayo Odunlami-Omisanya, described the incident as unfortunate, adding that the police were currently investigating the case.