10 crew members from a fishing trawler in Lagos have been rescued by the Nigerian Navy Ship (NNS) BEECROFT, Africa Today News, New York has gathered.
According to reports, the trawler is a commercial fishing vessel that is designed to operate fishing trawls.
The vessel which is named OLOKUN XII capsized within the Lagos channel in the early hours of Monday.
Commander Edward Yeibo, Public Relations Officer of the Western Naval Command announced the intervention in a statement.
The spokesperson said the capsized trawler, OLOKUN XII, was towed by another trawler OLOKUN IV.
Read Also: How Navy, Nigerian Army Protect Oil Thieves – Tompolo
Yeibo added that the vessel capsized after it collided with a merchant vessel MSC CORUNA.
‘NNS BEECROFT patrol team were on routine patrol which led to the prompt rescue of 10 crew members from the trawler’, he disclosed.
Those rescued were handed over to the officials of their employers, Barnaly Fishing Company Limited.
Commander NNS BEECROFT, Commodore Malami Haruna urged seafarers to navigate with caution and observe international regulations at all times.
In another report, the Government Ekpemupolo, better known as Tompolo, had lambasted the Nigerian Army and Nigerian Navy accusing them of shielding oil thieves.
The Nigeria Delta activist made the incriminating revelation against the military in an interview with Channels TV which was monitored by Africa Today News, New York.
The President Muhammadu Buhari administration recently awarded Tompolo a pipeline security contract.
The deal, which sparked controversy, is to protect oil lines in the six South-South states and is reportedly worth N50billion per year.
‘A lot of people are running helter-skelter because they know that there is nothing in this country concerning the riverine that I don’t know’, he said.
Delta-based Tompolo, an Egbesu chief priest, disclosed that youths engaged for the job in other states would soon commence work.