A boy’s dream of becoming a doctor and another 14-year-old’s birthday plans came crashing down on Saturday.

The pair were among four people who drowned in tragic circumstances on the same day.

Dead are:

l               Sisa Makavu, 14, of  Kalabu, between Suva and Nausori. The student of Kalabu Primary School wanted to become a doctor. He was an outstanding student, topped his class and received the award in the recent prizegiving. He drowned trying to help a man cross Waikalou creek.

l               Samuela Tiqe, 14, of Kalekana, Lami. A student of Seventh-day Adventist School, Suvavou, Lami.  His family was planning to celebrate his birthday last Saturday. But he died on his birthday when the Hobie Cat he was sailing at Suva Point capsized.

l               A 16-year-old girl, of Naiborebore, Tailevu, died while swimming in the Savu River. Police did not release her name pending investigations.

l               A Chinese national, 23, an employee of Chinese railway drowned while swimming with friends in the Sabeto River. His name has not been released.

Sisa ’s mother, Mereia Loganimoce, fought back tears as she tried to explain the tragedy.

She said Sisa went to attend a party at a friend’s house on Saturday when the incident happened.

“With a couple of friends, he was trying to assist an old man who was trying to take a fridge to other side of the river; they all landed a hand and helped the old man,” she said.

“They safely reached the other side but then his shoes got swept away when they were crossing the river ; he tried to swim for his shoes and the friends assisted him too; however the friends made it first to dry land but when they looked back, they could see his hands and it seemed like he was drowning; they thought he was just joking.

“When they went back to the house; they realized that Sisa was still missing but no one could believe that he could have drowned and at 5pm I decided to pick him from his friend’s place.”

“Whilst at his friend’s place, I noticed that my son was missing so I started looking around for him and at around 7pm I was informed that he was missing in the river, people started searching for him that whole night but to no avail,” she said.

Mrs Loganimoce said her son’s body was found by police in the same spot where he drowned at around 9am yesterday.

“We still could not believe how he drowned in that river because my son knew how to swim and this has come as a shock to the family,” she said.

His father, Joji Loganimoce said his son’s dream was become a doctor in the future and help his family.

“I am proud of my son and he was a role model to his siblings; during the prize giving ceremony at his school this year; he took the first prize and played in the under 14 Kaji Rugby for Nasinu and we were all proud of him.”

Emotional Elenoa Sereinagata said she was at her work place when the news was relayed to her that her son, Samuela, had died.

“I was trying to get in touch with him on Saturday to inform him about his birthday but his phone was diverted; little did I know what had happen to him.”

“We were planning to celebrate his 14th birthday with the whole family today (yesterday); my husband and I were organizing the birthday feed for his fourteenth birthday today (yesterday) but he has left us.”

“It has come as a shock for our family because Samuela didn’t go out of the house much; he was always at home with his siblings and what we are trying to get is what made him go out with his friends to Suva Point that day; that was new of him to accompany his friends, he was with the wrong groups of friends at the wrong time,” she said.

Mrs Sereinagata said her children had lost a loving and caring brother.

“He was humble and a reliable child; his loss has had an impact on our children; he was loved by everybody and always protective and looked after his siblings well when the responsibility was given to him.

“We had so much expectation for him because academically he was an intelligent student and had a bright future ahead of me; in class Samuela hardly spoke because he was always shy and quite,” she said.