The National President of the Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN), Emeka Rollas, says late Nollywood actor Junior Pope showed signs of life when he was rushed to the hospital.

According to him, when slight movements of the actor's fingers were noticed, those present believed he had survived despite being underwater for over two hours.

This, Mr Roallas explained, led to the Guild's decision to publicly announce that the actor had miraculously survived the incident.

However, despite health professional's efforts to resuscitate him, Junior Pope passed away on Wednesday evening, the AGN President wrote in a social media post.

"It is so so sad that our joy was shortlived. My first post was out of excitement when we noticed his tingling fingers. Two notable hospitals tried their best to revive him but to no avail. God knows best. We finally lost him. Mr Friday’s corpse has been identified but three other corpses are yet to be found," Mr Rollas' post read.

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Junior Pope died in the afternoon of Wednesday, April 9, while filming in Asaba, Delta State capital, in Nigeria.

Vanguard Nigeria reported that Junior Pope died during a boat trip. The boat capsised and he, alongside two other yet-to-be-identified actors, drowned.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Junior Pope, in 2006, joined the Nollywood industry and started attending movie auditions and acting as a minor character in movies.

He usually played the role of a bodyguard, palace attendant, or servant in movies.

In 2007, he rose to fame after acting in the Nollywood blockbuster movie “Secret Adventures”, a movie directed by Tchidi Chikere.

He acted in more than 150 Nollywood movies which include: “Secret Adventures”, “Mad sex”, “Bitter Generation”, “Vengeance of Bullet”, “The Cat”, “The Generals”, “Wrong Initiation” among others.

In 2010, he won the award for Nollywood Most Promising Actor in Nigeria at the Entertainment Factory Awards.

He is also known for acting as a criminal, villain, armed robber, militant or hitman in movies alongside Emma Ehumadu, Sylvester Madu, Zubby Michael, Jim Iyke, Alaso Wariboko, Gentle Jack, Hanks Anuku, and Jerry Amilo.

Other awards he won include Best Actor in a Supporting Role at the Africa Magic Viewers Choice (AMVC) Awards and Best Actor of the Year at the Africa Movie Academy (AMA) Awards among others.