At least four passengers have been confirmed dead and 12 others including children missing from the ill-fated boat which capsized while carrying passengers from Mile 12 at the Ojo Local Government Ibeshe axis to the Mile 12 area of Lagos State.
He learned that the boating accident happened when the passenger boat hit a stationary barge along the waterways of Mile 2 and dumped the passengers in the ocean.
At the time of filing this report, a joint search and rescue team from the Lagos State Waterways Authority (LASWA), the Nigerian National Waterways (NIWA) Marine Police and the Lagos State Emergency Management (LASEMA) was currently combing the body of water to rescue survivors and recover more bodies.
It should be recalled that two female passengers also died on Wednesday when a 20-seater boat which left the Ipakodo ferry terminal in Ikorodu capsized.
The Chief Executive of the Lagos State Waterways Authority, Oluwadamilola Emmanuel, while commenting on the tragic event, said the boat capsized almost immediately after taking off.
According to him, 15 occupants of the capsized boat were saved alive.
The National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) and the Lagos State Waterways Authority (LASWA) in their joint statement on the current incident confirmed that, “At approximately 7:45 a.m. today, On July 8, 2022, the National Inland Waterways Authority and Lagos State Waterways Authority received a distress call of an incident on the waterways.
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“The boat going from Mile 2 to Ibeshe in the axis of Ojo broke the rules of the late travel waterways by leaving at 7:45 p.m. As he was leaving, the tide of the water caused the boat to drift towards a stationary barge which capsized the boat. It is said that not all the passengers on board, including the children, put on their life jackets”.
“The search and rescue team from the Lagos State Waterways Authority (LASWA), the Nigerian National Inland Waterways (NIWA) Marine Police and the Nigerian National Inland Waterways (NIWA) Emergency Management Agency Lagos State (LASEMA) was immediately mobilized to the scene of the incident but unfortunately was only able to locate the boat after several hours as efforts are still underway to locate the victims.
“The boat is currently in the custody of the maritime police. The captain of the boat is also missing at the time of this press release,” the agencies said.
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