Mother, 2 children, 3 others drown •As agencies recover 12 bodies of Ogun boat victims

WITH less than two weeks to the dedication of his 3-bedroom apartment in Efon Alaye, in Ekiti state, an auto mechanic identified as Abbey, based in Yenagoa,

Bayelsa state lost his life alongside other passengers, including a nursing mother and her two children, in a boat mishap that occurred on Saturday   along Epie creek, Akenfa community,Yenagoa local government area of the state.

The journey of less than five minutes sailing, in a twinkling of an eye, according to an eye witness account, claimed the lives of six out of the eight passengers on board of the manually-operated wooden boat.

However, the Bayelsa state Governor, Hon. Seriake Dickson, has ordered the recovery of the bodies of the victims and as well sympathised with the bereaved families.

The Governor during his visit to the scene of the incident ordered the provision of life jackets for all the boat operators in the area, adding that the incident would have been averted, if the had passengers put on life jackets.

The victims, Sunday Tribune was reliably informed, boarded the wooden boat because the affected community could no longer be accessed by road as a result of the recent flooding of some parts of the state. To convey passengers across the trouble spot, the wooden boat operators charge between N5 and N10.

The ill-fated boat, reportedly was about to berth when the incident occurred. Two of the passengers on board swam to safety, while Abbey and the remaining passengers on board drowned.

Efforts to locate them proved abortive, as sympathisers gathered at the bank of the creek, waiting for the bodies of the victims to float.

Members of the Federal Road Safety Commission, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, local divers and other security operatives were sighted at the bank ofcreek, waiting helplessly for the time that the bodies of victims would float.

One of the sympathisers who spoke under the condition of anonymity said Abbey was supposed to have travelled to his hometown but postponed the journey.

He further revealed that, “Abbey supposed to dedicate his newly-built apartment next week. Not only this, his father’s coronation ceremony is coming up same time next week. I met him two days ago, and expressed fear over the recent flooding which has rendered hundreds of people homeless.

“He told me that he was always afraid of water, not knowing that the same water would claim his life. He could not wait to pack into the house that he had laboured to build.

Another eye witness account had it that two of the victims were traveling to the other side of the creek in search of snake meat.


Confirming the incident, the State Police Public Relations Officer, Fidelis Odunna said three people were feared dead in a boat mishap that occurred along Epie creek in Akenfa community, Yenagoa local government area of the state.

In a similar vein, it took the spirited effort of the men and officers of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and the Ogun State Traffic Compliance and Enforcement Corps (TRACE), to recover 12 lifeless bodies from a coastl bus which plunged into a river along Area J4 on the Sagamu-Ore-Benin expressway.

Members of the Nigeria Police Force and the Red Cross Society were also part of the rescue team.

It would be recalled that a passenger-laden coastal bus travelling from Lagos to Benin for a burial ceremony plunged into an overflowing river on Friday afternoon.
Three people, including a pregnant woman, survived the accident and were taken to an undisclosed hospital in Ore for medical treatment.

The bodies of 11 women and the driver were recovered after a nine-hour rescue operations from the Federal Urban Mass Scheme bus with registration number ABUJA BWR 428 XA.

The occupants of the ill-fated bus were mainly women who were said to be travelling for a burial at Uronigbe in Oriohmwon local government area of Edo state.

Relatives of the victims who were at the scene could not hold back their tears as the bodies were recovered.

The Unit Commander of the FRSC in Ijebu-Ode, Mr. Issa Seidu, who was part of rescue operation, confirmed that 12 bodies had since been recovered.

The FRSC boss told newsmen that one of the survivors confirmed that only one 21 passengers including the driver were in the bus.

He attributed the cause of the accident to over-speeding.

Seidu said: “It is a clear case of over speeding on the part of the driver of the bus. If you look at the distance from which  the bus ran into the river which is about a kilometer away, it shows that the driver was on a terriblly high speed.

“It clearly shows that the driver was on a suicide mission. Although we don’t know the actually number of people in the bus but, one of the survivors said they were 21 in number.

“In all we were able to recover 12 bodies and rescued three“.

NEMA information officer in the South West, Zone 2, Ibrahim Farinloye, said the agency would commence  search and rescue operation of the remaining bodies in the river.

He added that the agency could not ascertain the number of the people in the bus, because the passenger manifest was not found in it.

“For now, nobody can ascertain the number of people inside the bus because passenger manifest was not found inside the bus but so far we were able to recover 12 bodies.

“And this is the first phase of the operation; the second phase which is going to start soon will be search and rescue operation for the rest of the bodies.

“With what we have seen, it clear that it is not an 18-seater bus but we will get to the park where the bus loaded to get the manifest to ascertain the actual figure of people involved,“ he said.

The Ijebu Zonal Commander of TRACE  Mr Tommy Hamzat, also  attributed overspeeding as the cause of the accident.

He admonished motorists to be guided by traffic rules especially in the “ember” months.

Hamzat said, “I want to urge road users to be patient during this festive period because the road is patient and they also need to be patient“.