No fewer than sixteen passengers have been declared missing following a boat mishap on Saturday along Ojo area of Lagos state.
The Lagos State Waterways Authority, in a statement, said that the boat took off from Mile 2 and was heading to Ibeche in Ojo axis.
The statement read in parts, “At about 7.45pm on the 8th of July 2022, The Lagos State Waterways Authority and National Inland Waterways Authority received a distress call of an incident on the waterways.
“A W19 passenger Fibre boat carrying 16 people capsized along the Ojo area of the state”
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According to the statement, the captain broke the waterway rules as he sailed late in the evening with no life jackets for passengers.
The statement continued, “The boat going from Mile 2 to Ibeshe in Ojo axis broke the waterways rules of late travelling by setting sail at 7pm.
“As he set out, the tide of the water drifted the boat to a stationary barge which caused the boat to overturn. It is said that all passengers on board which includes children were not all putting on their life jackets”
“The Search and Rescue team of the LASWA, National Inland Waterways, Nigerian Marine Police and the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency were immediately mobilised to the scene of the incident but unfortunately could only find the boat after several hours while efforts are still ongoing to locate the victims.
“The boat is currently in the custody of Marine Police. The boat captain is also unaccounted for as at the time of this press release.”