Party Turns Tragic, Birthday Boy Drowns

A planned birthday party for four-year-old Osea Raituku yesterday turned sour after he was reported missing in the Va­tutu River a day before.

Osea and his two-year-old sister Akeneta Waqali are suspected to have drowned in the Nadi River, ap­proximately 100 metres from their home at Vatutu Village.

Yesterday, Police and relatives continued their search for Osea’s body. The event is thought to have occurred on Monday around noon.

Akeneta was discovered floating in the river 15 minutes later.

Uncle tells last moments

Marika Raituku, 20, the children’s uncle, recounted his last conversa­tion with Osea before the fatal in­cident.

“He asked me where I was going, while I was sharpening the knife. That time his mother was hanging the clothes on the line,” he said.

Mr Raituku said that they would have to cross the river to get to their two farms on the other side.

“That day I was sharpening my knife, but I did not know when they went to the river,” he said with sad­ness.

“My sister then came to look for them, but only found Akeneta float­ing in the river. She jumped into the river and pulled her out, per­formed CPR (Cardiopulmonary resuscitation), but it was too late.”

“We were all looking forward to celebrating a birthday party as usual, but sad that it won’t happen now,” Mr Raituku said.

The children’s mother, Arieta Mosi is originally from Navala in Ba, but has been a resident of Va­tutu.

She is now mourning the loss of her two young children.

Yesterday family members and villagers were still searching for Osea.

According to a Police statement, the search for the four-year-old is ongoing, and an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the unfortunate tragedy is under­way.

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