An 11-year-old female student from Ra is the country’s latest drowning victim.
The victim was swimming with her friends in the Nabuliwaliwa River at Naiserelagi, Ra on Tuesday afternoon when she did not surface.
A search was conducted by Police with the assistance of villagers and they located the body floating nearby.
Fiji Police Force Chief Operations Officer (COO) Acting Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Livai Driu said such incidents are a result of poor or non-supervision by parents.
The victim had gone collecting 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 needs to strictly monitor their activities and they should be aware of the whereabouts of their children at all time,” said ACP Driu.
The Chief Operations Officer is calling on all parents to strictly monitor their children’s activities as the year comes to an end.
In the above incident, he said it was said to note that children were left to do things on their own and parents had come to the realization when tragedy had occurred.
“Post Mortem will be conducted tomorrow and our investigation will commence from there. Depending on our investigation, we will take people to task.”
The country’s drowning death toll now stands at 42 compared to 34 in the same period last year.
Investigation into the matter continues.
Source: Fiji Police
