A 23-year-old UK-based Nigerian student identified as Jonathan Adebanjo, drowned in River Thames on Tuesday evening while swimming with friends at Shadwell Basin.
Jonathan was out to swim with his friends in the river, after the city was hit by a scorching heat wave. The Nigerian art student was one of three people who drowned in the Thames in three hours, after a 47-year-old swimmer died in Kingston and another person vanished in the water at Waterloo Bridge.
The deceased’s heartbroken family are now warning Londoners not to go to unsupervised waters. His sister Tundun, 22, said:
“He wasn’t the only person that disappeared on that day … we need to put a warning out there to be careful. It’s easy to think nothing bad can happen because the sun is out but there’s still a risk, and it’s very evident after what happened to Jonathan.”
She added: “When they were fishing his body out, there were still kids jumping in … people have seen it in the news, they’ve seen the risk and they’re still doing it.”
Adebanjo was due to enter his final year at Camberwell College of Arts, part of the University of the Arts London, before the sad incident occurred.
