A 20-year-old man who died trying to rescue a drowning woman from the Thames was adamant he had to jump into the water in spite of the serious risk to himself, his friend has said.
Folajimi Olubunmi-Adewole, known to friends and family as Jimi, died on Saturday night, after trying to rescue the woman in the waters around London Bridge. On Tuesday, his friend Bernard Kosia, who was with him, described him as a hero.
“Jimi was adamant, for some reason, that he didn’t care (about himself). He didn’t think twice as to what was going to happen,” Kosia told ITV’s Good Morning Britain. “I just remember him saying ‘Bernard, I have to save her, I’m going to save her’.”
He said: “Jimi means a lot to everyone. Especially around south London now, everyone knows him as a neighbourhood hero. To risk your life in such a way, you don’t see that every day. And the fact that he was adamant to save that woman, it just shows his nature and his mindset.”
He spoke as Jimi’s parents called for him to be posthumously honoured for his act of courage. His father, Michael Adewola, and mother, Olasunkanmi Adewole, cried as they paid tribute to their son on the same programme.
Michael Adewola said: “I want the government to honour him,” adding: “Jimi was a good soul” who was “always taking care of me and my wife and his friends”.
Kosia, recalling their last conversations, said his friend had spoken about his family and said he loved him. “[Our conversations] were just always about family, loved ones, what we have to do for them to make sure that they’re OK. We started joking around and I just remember Jimi looking at me like ‘Bernard, you know I love you, right?’ And I was like ‘Bro, I know you do, man’.”
Two men, including Olubunmi-Adewole, are believed to have gone into the water to rescue the woman. The coastguard and the Metropolitan police’s marine unit rescued the woman and one of the men, but could not find Olubunmi-Adewole.
His body was found at 6am on Saturday morning, police said. Det Ch Supt Oliver Shaw from City of London police described him as a “brave, kind and selfless young man”.
He said: “Our officers arrived extremely quickly to the scene but two members of the public had already entered the water. One man had managed to swim to the woman and they were both seen above water by the coastguard. Sadly, there was no sign of the other rescuer.
“The circumstances of this incident are extremely tragic. We continue to support the family of this heroic young man who heartbreakingly lost his own life trying to save that of another.”
A GoFundMe page has been set up for the Adewole family by a charity.
