Another suspected suicide case was recorded in Lagos yesterday as an unidentified man plunged into the lagoon from the Amuwo-Odofin-Festac Link Bridge. The incident happened around midday.
An eyewitness, who identified himself simply as Chukwuebuka at the scene of the event, said the incident took everybody in the area by surprise.
“Only a few people saw the man when he took the dive. Majority of us around the area were only attracted by the noise of those who shouted when they saw him, while a couple of others around the bank of the river claimed they were attracted by the heavy splash that accompanied his plunge,” he said.
But another eyewitness, who craved anonymity, described the victim as a mentally deranged person.
“I was right at the foot of the bridge when the man dived into the water. From the way I saw him, he looked more of an insane man who broke loose because some people whom I suspected to be his people were pursuing him when he jumped into the water. I even overheard one of them saying he had cautioned his pursuers to leave him the moment he took that direction,” he claimed.
It was gathered that rescue efforts by divers who searched through the water proved abortive, as his body could not be found.
Confirming the incident, the Divisional Police Officer of FESTAC Town Police Station, CSP Obong, said he personally led a police team to the scene of the incident to ascertain the veracity of the information, but said efforts by divers to retrieve the victim’s body did not succeed.
He, however, assured that investigation into the incident and efforts to recover the body would continue.
The latest incident came barely three weeks after a medical doctor identified as Allwell Orji plunged into the lagoon via the Third Mainland Bridge on Sunday, March 19.
Orji reportedly ordered his driver to pull over after which he alighted from his Nissan SUV car and jumped into the lagoon.
Since the March 19 incident, no fewer than four other attempted suicide cases had been reported in the state.
Two of the cases involved women who attempted to take their own lives by plunging into the lagoon via Third Mainland Bridge, while another woman was reportedly rescued at Mile 2 area of the state after she jumped into the river on Friday, March 23, 2017.
On Sunday, March 26, another man suspected to be on suicide mission was also rescued by the police on the Third Mainland Bridge while attempting to jump into the lagoon. (The Sun)