The Government of Taraba State has revealed that no fewer than twenty corpses of victims of a recent boat mishap have been recovered so far following ongoing rescue efforts.
This was disclosed by Saviour Noku who is the state’s Commissioner for Special Duties and Social Development shortly after visiting the Binneri community alongside the state deputy governor where the boat capsized last Saturday
The state Deputy Governor Aminu Alkali in an interview after an on-the-spot assessment and condolences to the affected community and families banned night journeys on waterways.
When the Deputy Governor arrived, he was informed that the main reason for the accident was fishermen’s attempts to trap fish by building barricades on the rivers.
Within seven days, he ordered all obstacles on the canals to be removed.
According to him, the state government will henceforth not tolerate the overloading of boats or canoes, or movement without passenger manifests and life jackets.
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He is insisting that the government will investigate deeply to unravel the root cause of the boat mishap and punish culprits accordingly.
”Our visit here is to ensure three principal issues: to stop overloading, to ensure that there will be no more night travelling and the canoes or boats must have passengers manifest so that whatever happens we can easily identify one’s relations,” he said.
”They should also ensure they have life jackets for passengers for protection because not all persons can swim. The colossal loss witnessed in the state is regrettable and the government has directed that the barricades be removed within seven days.”
Some of the passengers who drowned are gradually floating and decomposing on the surface of the water.
Investigation indicated that the boat was overloaded with bags of cement, building irons, food items, animals, and over 100 passengers including children. But it hit a wooden barricade on the waterways, hindering its movement, hence the capsizing.
A community member who spoke on the grounds of anonymity said on a daily basis the figure swells but the community leaders bury it without revealing the actual number to avoid being queried by the state government for overloading.
The rider of the boat said while riding they got to a barricade two hours after take off and tried all they could to maneuver, but did not succeed and in the process, the boat started getting filled with water.
He revealed that about 50 to 60 passengers of his boat got drowned while some that hung on to others who knew how to swim succeeded in getting to the river bank.