A 11-year-old student from Ra is the country’s latest drowning victim. Fiji Police Force Chief Operations Officer (COO) Acting Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Livai Driu said the girl was swimming with her friends when she did not surface.
The incident happened at Nabuliwaliwa River in Naiserelagi, Ra.
“Search was conducted by police with the assistance of the villagers where they located the body floating nearby,” A/ACP Driu said.
“Such incident is a result of poor or non-supervision by parents.
“The victim had gone to collect bamboo with two of her friends on Tuesday afternoon and they ended up swimming in the river when the incident occurred.
“Children will want to enjoy their school holidays but parents need to strictly monitor their activities and they should be aware of the whereabouts of their children at all time.”
A/ACP Driu is calling on all parents to strictly monitor their children’s activities as the year comes to an end.
“In the above incident, it’s sad to note that children were left to do things on their own and parents had come to realisation when tragedy had occurred.
“Post-mortem (examination) will be conducted tomorrow (today) and our investigation will commerce from there. Depending on our investigation, we will take people to task.”
The country’s drowning death toll now stands at 42 compared with 34 for the same period last year.
