Oyo motor boy searching for bucket drowns in well

The family and colleagues of a 27-year-old motor boy have been thrown into mourning after he drowned while trying to remove a bucket that fell in a well at Alaja community, in the Akinyele Local Government Area of Oyo State.

PUNCH Metro gathered that a truck driver and the motor boy were heading to a destination in the state when the truck developed a mechanical fault around the Powerline/Moniya end of the new Ibadan/Oyo Expressway.

It was learnt that the driver, after parking the truck, was assessing it to trace the source of the problem when the motor boy reached for a bucket and went in search of water to fill the radiator.

In the course of searching for water, our correspondent, who visited the community on Sunday, discovered that the motor boy went to one of the mechanic shops in Alaja community where he found a well.

An eyewitness, who spoke to our correspondent on condition of anonymity, said the motor boy, upon sighting the well, moved closer and started searching for a fetcher to get water from the well but did not find any.

In a bid to get water, the resident said the motor boy tied a rope to the bucket and threw it in the well, adding that in the process of fetching the water, the rope cut and the bucket fell into the well.

Desperate to get the bucket, the resident said the motor boy entered the well and drowned.

The resident said, “I saw the young man yesterday (Saturday) when the driver parked the truck. I think the truck developed a little fault. As a motor boy, he must look for water for the radiator.

“He searched for a drawer and didn’t see one; he then tied a rope to a bucket. But unfortunately, the rope suddenly cut into two and the bucket fell inside the well. So he drowned when he entered the well to remove the bucket.”

The resident said people got to know that the motor boy had drowned when the truck driver raised the alarm after finding his slippers close to the well, adding that emergency rescue operatives that were alerted visited the area to retrieve the victim’s corpse from the well.

“Nobody was aware until a few minutes later when his boss was looking for him. He saw his slippers beside the well and raised the alarm. At that time, nobody was courageous enough to enter there to pick up the corpse until the arrival of the officials of the fire service with the assistance of police officers.

“We don’t know his identity, we only heard that the victim joined the driver through the driver’s friend and the driver has contacted his family members through his friend and the corpse has been taken away,” the eyewitness said.

As the investigation into the case commenced, PUNCH Metro gathered that the well had been sealed.

Our correspondent observed that an iron sheet had been used to cover the well and a stone was placed on the sheet to prevent people from fetching water from the well.

When contacted on the telephone, the state Commissioner of Police, Adebowale Williams, confirmed the incident.

“We had a case of drowning yesterday in the area,” he simply said.

The General Manager of the State Fire Service, Yemi Akinyinka, also confirmed the incident but declined further comment.