Poly student slumps, dies during karate training in A’Ibom

A final-year student of Akwa Ibom State Polytechnic, Ikot Osurua, in Ikot Ekpene Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State identified as John, slumped and died during Karate training on Saturday.

The deceased was a Higher National Diploma programme student in the institution’s department of Media Studies who left the students’ lodge off campus for Karate training that fateful day.

According to a source, immediately after entering the pitch, he fainted and was rushed to a private hospital in Ikot Ekpene, where he was referred to the General Hospital.

The president of the Journalism and Media Studies Students Association, Mr. Nsoefen Mark Akpan, who witnessed the incident, said the doctor at the hospital, after a close examination, pronounced the deceased dead on arrival at the hospital.

Akpan said students rushed to the hospital, as they refused to believe the doctor’s report and took the deceased to church for prayers, but to no avail.

“In the church after he was rejected, another spiritualist offered to resuscitate the victim but couldn’t succeed, claiming that the deceased has been admitted already in the spirit world.

“At this point, we returned the corpse to the mortuary, but students were still waiting to see if the colleague was dead,” he said.

Akpan said the Head of the Department, Dr Inemesit Umore, came to the hospital and addressed students before they left the hospital while the corpse was deposited in the mortuary after the parents were contacted.

Meanwhile, Akpan has expressed surprise over the sudden death of the student, revealing that the young man wrote exams last Thursday without any sign of sickness.

According to him, the deceased is the leader of karate training and does that every Saturday morning.