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Boat mishap claims 30 in south Nigeria: official

15 December 2011 00:17 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Some 30 people were believed to have perished in a boat mishap, which happened late Tuesday in Chiogbonna Waterfront around Rumuolumeni area of Obio/ Akpor local government area of Rivers state in south Nigeria, a local official said on Wednesday afternoon, APA reports quoting Xinhua.

The accident occurred when a local transport boat, believed to have been over-loaded with some 40 people, capsized mid-water, throwing all passengers overboard, most of who were believed to have died by Wednesday afternoon when rescue efforts were still going on.

Confirming the incident, the South-South Zonal Coordinator of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Umesi Emenike, said the boat capsized at about 11:30 p.m., adding that the number of persons on board had been put between 30 and 40.

He said efforts were still on with other aid agencies to rescue possible survivors and to retrieve more corpses, as the case may be, as according to him, ten victims had been rescued alive already. He regretted that the accident had been so fatal as a result of the fact that it occurred at night, adding that the absence of a State Emergency Management Agency had hindered effective response to the situation.

"The incident took place around 11: 30 p.m. last night. In the night four persons were rescued. As at this morning, officially, the rescue figure had gone up to ten, it was speculated that the boat was carrying close to 30 to 40 persons. So if we have been able to rescue ten persons, we expect that we still have between 25 to 30 persons, " he said.

"If we had a standing State Emergency Management Agency, information would have been gotten quite in time and people would have been mobilized to site in time. Unfortunately because there is no coordinating agency on ground, it is difficult to get information as at when due", he said.

The events that led to the accidents could not be vividly captured, bus official and community sources tagged it on over- loading of the boat, which was said to be carrying mostly market women who were returning home with their merchandises.

NEMA spokesman Yushua Shuaib confirmed on Wednesday that 20 bodies had been recovered from the mishap.

Meanwhile, the Police Public Relations Officer of the Rivers State Police Command, Ben Ugbuegbulam (DSP), said seven persons were rescued alive, while one had been confirmed dead, although community sources disagree strongly with the figure given by the security outfit.

According to statement he sent out Wednesday, Ugwuegbulam said "On 13/12/11, at about 21:30 at Mgboudohia waterfront, a passenger wooden boat travelling from Eagle Island capsized and combined rescue team of marine police and Rumuolumeni Police Division and the Swift Operation Squad, led by Decompol Operations and the Navy also joined at the efforts.

"Seven persons were rescued, including a two-year-old baby and one person confirmed dead and body deposited at mortuary of the Braithwaith Memorial Hospital. Rescue operations and further investigations going on," he said.