YEAR OLD BABY BOY DIED AFTER DROWNING AT FOPA POOL

A one year old baby boy from Malaita Province has died at the FOPA Evacuation center at Panatina Village, after drowning in the artificial lake.

The baby was a member of the remaining group of evacuees at the center who were still to be repatriated.

SIBC stringer, Gabriel Riotarau reports the baby was found floating in the FOPA Village lake, yesterday afternoon.

Riotarau says, reports are saying the baby’s mother had gone out to the shops and was under the care of another person, when he fell into the lake and drowned.

“After a long search that lasted maybe half an hour yesterday, they managed to locate the boy who is floating in the artificial lake at the FOPA Village. Upon recovering his body they rushed it to the hospital, but was pronounced dead after doctors at the hospital checked the body.”

Meanwhile, the SIBC Stringer reports, remaining internally displaced people at the FOPA Village are calling on the Government and responsible authorities to be fair and realistic in how they address issues of natural disasters.

Riotarau says the evacuees are also claiming tragic situations such as the baby’s death could have been avoided if the Government had addressed issues of the April flood more efficiently.