Juliana Francis
Two dead bodies have been recovered following the capsizing of a W19 passenger Fibre boat carrying 16 people in the Ojo area of Lagos State.
The Acting Coordinator of the Lagos Territorial office of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Ibrahim Farinloye, who confirmed the incident, said that the two bodies were that of 52 years old male and 20 years old female.
The boat was said to have taken off from the Mile2 area, heading to Ibeshe in Ojo. The incident was said to have occurred at about 7:45 PM.
Farinloye said: “Two bodies have been recovered. 52 years old male and 20 years old female in the recovery operations ongoing. This was because of a W19 passenger Fibre boat carrying 16 people that capsized along the Ojo area of the state. The boat which took off from Mile 2 to Ibeshe in the Ojo axis capsized due to operation at night against the inland waterways’ rules. The incident happened at about 7:45 pm. It was found out that the tide of the water drifted the boat to a stationary barge which caused the boat to overturn. Marine Police, NIWA, LASWA, and volunteers swung into action in trying to rescue some of the victims to no avail. It can not be confirmed if all the passengers including the captain were wearing life jackets, but some people claimed some of them were wearing their life jackets which may not be effective. Recovery operations are still ongoing.”
