Eight children who were declared missing on Saturday while returning from an Islamic school in Ja Michael area on the Badagry expressway in Lagos State have been found dead. The children were on Sunday all found locked up and dead inside a vehicle parked in front of a house around their area.
Four of the children are from the same parents who hail from the northern part of the country.
The police in the state confirmed the incident and claimed that the children might have unknowingly locked themselves up in the vehicle while playing.
The bodies of the children were found at Adelayo Street, Ja Michael area by a search team which was raised by the Hausa community in the area.
A source said that “the eight children went to the Arabic school on Saturday and when it was time for them to return and their parents did not see them, they raised an alarm. The were said to have gone to their Arabic school and their teacher confirmed that they were there in the morning and that they had left after class.
However on Sunday, somebody raised the alarm that some children were found sleeping in a vehicle parked in front of a house in the area. By the time the residents moved to where the vehicle was parked and forced it open, the children were all dead.
The state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Adekunle Ajisebutu, while speaking on the incident, said: “The eight children were said to have mistakenly locked themselves in an abandoned car while playing.
“Their bodies have been recovered and deposited at the Badagry General Hospital’s morgue for autopsy so as to determine the actual cause of death.” Ajisebutu also added that: “Notwithstanding the report made to the police, the Commissioner of Police, Hakeem Odumosu, has ordered thorough investigation into the circumstances surrounding their death.”