Four officials of the World Bank drown in Ekiti {photos}

Four World Bank officials were on Thursday confirmed to have drowned in Egbe Dam in Egbe communi­ty of Gbonyin Local Government Area of Ekiti State.
The deceased were said to be on a World Bank assessment mission to the dam and had com­menced work on Tuesday night in the area.
Those who died in the mis­hap which involved a boat they boarded were identified as Bamidele Waheed Alayande, Tirimisiyu Alaran, David Malu and one Albert.
The survivors who are receiv­ing treatment in an undisclosed hospital are Charles Ehinlaye, Bukky Ajet and Yahaya Mo­hammed.
The project, according to a source at the dam is jointly owned by the World Bank and the Ekiti State government.

They were said to have come from Development Dams and Ir­rigation Schemes, Kaduna State and lost their lives when the boat in which seven of them and their equipment were sailing on, cap­sized.
Sources at the scene of the in­cident said the four out of seven occupants of the boat, who didn’t wear life jackets died while three others survived.
The bodies of the dead were fished out by local fishermen, who were said to have been mobilised by the Chairman of Gbonyin Local Government Area, Mrs. Folasade Akinrin­mola.
Akinrinmola told newsmen on the telephone that she was in­formed of the incident by the tra­ditional ruler of the community.

She said: “We immediately mobilised a rescue team and an ambulance and those wearing life jackets were rescued. The rescued people were the ones who told us that others were in the water. Their bodies were later retrieved by the local fishermen.”
On their mission to the riv­er, the council boss said that, “we believe that they were there based on some of the proposals we had written on the dam and how it could be put to use and we be­lieve that the World Bank had started work on the river based on the calls.”
She described the incident as “unfortunate” and said their bodies had been deposited at the mortuary in Ode-Ekiti, head­quarters of the council.
The Public Relations Offic­er of the Ekiti State Police Com­mand, Mr. Alberto Adeyemi, confirmed the incident. He said that “they (the victims) must have come from a federal minis­try because dams are owned by the Federal Government; their boat capsized, four of them died while three survived.”
At their session yesterday, members of the Ekiti State House of Assembly observed a min­ute’s silent in honour of the four World Bank workers and prayed for the repose of their souls.
Hon. Gboyega Aribisogan, a member representing Ikole Constituency 11 had drawn the attention of other lawmakers to the mishap, describing the sit­uation as putting the state into mourning.
The Executive arm of gov­ernment commiserated with the families of the deceased.
In a statement issued by the Commissioner for Public Utili­ties, Mr. Ayodeji Adesua, the state government described the inci­dent as unfortunate maintained that it was determined to make portable water available to the citizenry.
He lauded the World Bank for assisting and providing institutional support in the water sector.