Nigerian mum wants answers after ‘strong swimmer’ son drowned in California pool

Daniel Olatunji was said to have drowned in a hotel swimming pool in California, Los Angeles, US, but his mother Sarah wants to know how it happened because her son was a “strong swimmer”.

Daniel, who was studying IT and business at Newham college, and his mother, were on a holiday trip when the tragedy occurred.

Evening Standard reports that Daniel, who is to be buried on Tuesday, March 7, died in intensive care hours after he was pulled from the pool.

His mother, 54, from Silvertown, east London, said her only son was fit and healthy.

“I still need somebody to tell me what happened to my son. I looked after Daniel for 18 years. If Daniel was sick I would understand it. But he wasn’t, it happened so quickly,” she said.

“It’s difficult to have closure without knowing exactly what happened. When I came back here everyone was asking me what had happened and I couldn’t tell anybody because I don’t know.

“I stayed back for about three weeks. I went to the hospital, I went to the police, I contacted the embassy. I was crying and begging for answers.”

She said that she went to bed early and only heard about the tragedy when she awoke the following morning.

“I realised he wasn’t in the bedroom. I thought, where is he? I called his phone and it went to voicemail. I quickly dressed up and went downstairs. I looked around and there was nothing to suggest anything had happened. Then I went back upstairs. I thought he might have gone out jogging.

“About two to three minutes after, I had a knock at the door. It was the police who said, ‘are you looking for somebody?’. He said there was an accident in the pool. I described Daniel and they said, ‘yes that’s him’. I asked was he dead, he said ‘yes’. Then I fainted.

“I came round again and was screaming and I was shouting, ‘what happened, can somebody tell me anything’. I couldn’t come to terms with what they had told me.”

More than £14,000 was raised from an online fundraising page set up to collect money to bring his body to the UK in February.

Kemi Asomuyide, her close friend said: “It’s been so traumatic for everyone involved. It’s almost unbelievable.

“Daniel was such an easy-going boy. It makes it so much more painful, she doesn’t even know what happened that day.”

An inquest into Daniel’s death will be held on a date to be fixed at East London coroners’ court.