15-year-old son of Nigerian diplomat drowns in US

The son of a Nigerian diplomat, Hafis
Kareem, 15, was confirmed dead by Police,
Sunday morning, after being drowned at
the New Mark Commons community pool
in Rockville, Maryland, USA.

It was gathered that Kareem and some
other kids jumped over the fence to get
into the pool area, late Saturday night.

Late Hafis Kareem
According to the Montgomery Police, “we
were told Kareem went under water and
the others with him yelled for help, asking
someone walking by to call 911. The 15-
year old was taken to the hospital where he
died early Sunday morning.”

Hafis Kareem’s father was a diplomat at the
Embassy of Nigeria, Washington, DC and
just recently got posted back to Abuja.
His sister, Hamidat Kareem, doesn’t
understand why he was in the water
because he didn’t know how to swim.

She said: “None of us knows how to swim,
so I don’t know what happened, if they
pushed him in. We had a pool party here
and he didn’t swim, he just stood by the
pool.”

However, police said that from their
investigation, there was nothing to indicate
Kareem was pushed, adding: “We’re told
the kids were at the pool for about an hour
before the incident happened – it’s unclear
what happened but police believe these
were teenagers playing teenage games.
Detectives talked to the friends and are
calling it an accidental drowning.”
The whole situation doesn’t sit well with
the family, who said the friends ran away
after they called for help.

According to Hamidat, “they are not really
his friends, real friends would stay with you
and be there for you.
“Residents tell us kids have snuck in before
but nothing like this has happened. A new
fence was put up we’re told in the past
couple of years, in part, to prevent things
like this from happening.”

Mincy Neil, who has lived in the area for 27
years, said: “Kids do sneak in from time to
time; we haven’t had any incidents since
we put the new fence but apparently they
got in that way. It’s a tragedy one family is
now struggling to cope with.

“He was just an amazing person, I am
going to miss him so much,” Hamidat
Kareem added.
Montgomery County Police are said to still
be investigating but he has since been
buried in Virginia.