Two secondary school students in Akwa Ibom State drowned in Qua Iboe River, Eket, on Thursday.

The students, who were in SS 2 at a private school, Alex Commercial Secondary School, Idua, in Eket, have been identified as Aniekan Harry and Uche Okoli.

Their corpses were recovered on Saturday, two days after.

The drowned students were said to have been in the company of six other students when they sneaked out of the school to play football near the river.

The two were said to have insisted on swimming in the river, after finishing the game.

Despite warning from their fellow students, one of them jumped into the river and wasn’t able to come out again. The other slipped and fell into the river, said Owen Oscar, who was among the other six students.

Master Oscar said he and the other students called in the marine police officers and some other people who were around the river bank at the time of the incident. He said some divers searched the river for the two students but were unable to find them.

“The marine policemen advised us to go and tell their parents what happened,” he said.

Asuquo Ekong, the Principal of Alex Commercial Secondary School, confirmed to reporters that the drowned students were from his school.

Mr. Ekong said that the school authorities weren’t aware that the students went outside the school premises to play football.

Mercydonia Harry, a relative of one of the drowned students, however, alleged that the other six students went to the riverside to initiate her brother into a cult.