By Ovie Okpare
There was pandemonium at Manuex Place Hotel in Effurun in Uvwie Local Government Area of Delta State when a 14-year-old girl reportedly drowned at the hotel swimming pool.
It was gathered that the incident happened late Sunday afternoon throwing guests and staff of the hotel in rude shock.
Several sources who witnessed the incident confided in NIGER DELTA TODAY (NDT) Online that the teenager, Favour Appiah, died as a result of alleged negligence on the part of Manuex Place Hotel.
A wailing family source disclosed that there was no pool attendant when the incident happened.
It was gathered that the deceased was declared missing at hotel premises by her relatives until her lifeless body was discovered at the bottom of the deep part of the pool.
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“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”, one of the family members said.
The remains of the teenage girl were later deposited at the Central Hospital Warri by management of the hotel.
However, the hotel management did not report the incident to police until Monday noon.
When contacted on Monday, the Manager of Manuex Place Hotel, Benie O, confirmed the incident but declined to give details.
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She promised that a staff of the hotel will call our correspondent for further details but no one had called at the time of filing this report on Tuesday.
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, the spokesman of the Delta State Police Command, DSP Bright Edafe, confirmed the incident.
Manuex Place Hotels is one of the biggest hotels in Effurun located along the Jakpa Road which is often used by several oil companies to quarantine their staff.