{"id":37306,"date":"2019-12-27T14:15:22","date_gmt":"2019-12-27T13:15:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/?p=37306"},"modified":"2019-12-27T14:15:22","modified_gmt":"2019-12-27T13:15:22","slug":"christmas-tragedy-nigerian-pastor-drowns-with-two-children-in-spain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/christmas-tragedy-nigerian-pastor-drowns-with-two-children-in-spain\/","title":{"rendered":"Christmas Tragedy: Nigerian Pastor Drowns With Two Children In Spain"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Nigerian pastor and two of his children have died after drowning in a swimming pool while on holiday in Spain.<\/strong><\/p>\n

TheJournal is reporting<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0that Gabriel Diya, a London-based pastor, died along with his children during a holiday at the Club La Costa World resort on Christmas eve.<\/p>\n

The 52-year-old father reportedly died after diving into the pool with his 16-year-old son while trying to save a drowning daughter aged nine.<\/p>\n

The daughter was said to have struggled in the water before her father and brother jumped in, in a failed attempt to rescue her.<\/p>\n

Spanish daily newspaper El Pais quoted another of Diya\u2019s daughter who was at the scene as saying neither her father \u2014 a pastor at Open Heavens London, a Christian religious group \u2014 nor any of her siblings could swim.<\/p>\n

A witness narrated how the pastor\u2019s wife prayed as rescuers attempted to perform a CPR on her husband and the two children.<\/p>

\r\n
Advertisement<\/div>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\r\n \r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n

\u201cShe was calm. She was touching their bodies. She continued praying even after the ambulance people arrived and had stopped trying to revive them,\u201d the witness identified as Josias Fletchman told Mirror Online.<\/p>\n

The Spanish police is investigating the incident for a possible failure of the pool pump, but a statement from the hotel claimed there were no concerns about the pool.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Guardia Civil have carried out a full investigation which found no concerns relating to the pool in question or procedures in place, which leaves us to believe this was a tragic accident which has left everyone surrounding the incident in shock,\u201d the statement read.<\/p>\n

A neighbour of the family told the PA news agency the news of their demise was \u201cdevastating\u201d, describing the family as \u201cvery religious, very friendly, very humble\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI still can\u2019t comprehend it, it\u2019s still shocking. They are so nice, that is why everybody is shocked\u2026 we are very friendly with each other,\u201d Lara Akins was quoted as saying.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nigerian pastor and two of his children have died after drowning in a swimming pool while on holiday in Spain.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":37308,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[6608,6607],"coauthors":[2391],"class_list":["post-37306","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-faith","tag-gabriel-diya","tag-nigerian-pastor"],"yoast_head":"\nChristmas Tragedy: Nigerian Pastor Drowns With Two Children In Spain - National Wire<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/christmas-tragedy-nigerian-pastor-drowns-with-two-children-in-spain\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Christmas Tragedy: Nigerian Pastor Drowns With Two Children In Spain - National Wire\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Nigerian pastor and two of his children have died after drowning in a swimming pool while on holiday in Spain.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/christmas-tragedy-nigerian-pastor-drowns-with-two-children-in-spain\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"National Wire\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-12-27T13:15:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/download-2-1.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"252\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Friday Ekeoba\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/\",\"name\":\"National Wire\",\"description\":\"About Nigerians, Nigerian Business and Other Stories\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/christmas-tragedy-nigerian-pastor-drowns-with-two-children-in-spain\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/download-2-1.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/download-2-1.jpeg\",\"width\":200,\"height\":252},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/christmas-tragedy-nigerian-pastor-drowns-with-two-children-in-spain\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/christmas-tragedy-nigerian-pastor-drowns-with-two-children-in-spain\/\",\"name\":\"Christmas Tragedy: Nigerian Pastor Drowns With Two Children In Spain - National Wire\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/christmas-tragedy-nigerian-pastor-drowns-with-two-children-in-spain\/#primaryimage\"},\"datePublished\":\"2019-12-27T13:15:22+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-12-27T13:15:22+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/#\/schema\/person\/e2ab303e561d755b325fc9cea3854927\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/christmas-tragedy-nigerian-pastor-drowns-with-two-children-in-spain\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/christmas-tragedy-nigerian-pastor-drowns-with-two-children-in-spain\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/christmas-tragedy-nigerian-pastor-drowns-with-two-children-in-spain\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Christmas Tragedy: Nigerian Pastor Drowns With Two Children In Spain\"}]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/#\/schema\/person\/e2ab303e561d755b325fc9cea3854927\",\"name\":\"Friday Ekeoba\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/author\/friday\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Christmas Tragedy: Nigerian Pastor Drowns With Two Children In Spain - National Wire","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/christmas-tragedy-nigerian-pastor-drowns-with-two-children-in-spain\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Christmas Tragedy: Nigerian Pastor Drowns With Two Children In Spain - National Wire","og_description":"Nigerian pastor and two of his children have died after drowning in a swimming pool while on holiday in Spain.","og_url":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/christmas-tragedy-nigerian-pastor-drowns-with-two-children-in-spain\/","og_site_name":"National Wire","article_published_time":"2019-12-27T13:15:22+00:00","og_image":[{"width":200,"height":252,"url":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/download-2-1.jpeg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Friday Ekeoba","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/#website","url":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/","name":"National Wire","description":"About Nigerians, Nigerian Business and Other Stories","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/christmas-tragedy-nigerian-pastor-drowns-with-two-children-in-spain\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/download-2-1.jpeg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/download-2-1.jpeg","width":200,"height":252},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/christmas-tragedy-nigerian-pastor-drowns-with-two-children-in-spain\/#webpage","url":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/christmas-tragedy-nigerian-pastor-drowns-with-two-children-in-spain\/","name":"Christmas Tragedy: Nigerian Pastor Drowns With Two Children In Spain - National Wire","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/christmas-tragedy-nigerian-pastor-drowns-with-two-children-in-spain\/#primaryimage"},"datePublished":"2019-12-27T13:15:22+00:00","dateModified":"2019-12-27T13:15:22+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/#\/schema\/person\/e2ab303e561d755b325fc9cea3854927"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/christmas-tragedy-nigerian-pastor-drowns-with-two-children-in-spain\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/christmas-tragedy-nigerian-pastor-drowns-with-two-children-in-spain\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/christmas-tragedy-nigerian-pastor-drowns-with-two-children-in-spain\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Christmas Tragedy: Nigerian Pastor Drowns With Two Children In Spain"}]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/#\/schema\/person\/e2ab303e561d755b325fc9cea3854927","name":"Friday Ekeoba","url":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/author\/friday\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37306","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37306"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37306\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37309,"href":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37306\/revisions\/37309"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37308"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37306"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37306"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37306"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=37306"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}