A 31-year-old football player identified as Ernest Peremobowei, has died while trying to rescue victims of a boat mishap in Bebelebiri community, Yenagoa Local Government Area of Bayelsa State, Charmingpro reports.
The deceased popularly known as Tido, was a top scorer in the just concluded Prosperity Cup, a grassroot football tournament organized by the Government of Bayelsa State.
He died while returning home in a canoe shortly after taking his wife and two children, aged 3 years and 10 months old, to an IDP camp to escape the raging flood.
According to an eyewitness account, the canoe which was conveying him and six other persons from the Federal Medical Center waterfront capsized because it could not withstand the current of the raging flood.
Confirming the incident, Kenneth Dreams, the coach of Bebelebiri FC which he played for during the last edition of the competition, said that the popular footballer died in the process of rescuing other occupants of the canoe.
“He took his family to an IDP camp because the flood had taken over his house. So, while returning home, he boarded a canoe with six others when the current of the raging flood capsized the boat.,” Kenneth explained.