THE National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) said two bodies of a man and a woman believed to be victims of the boat mishap which occurred yesterday in Lagos have been recovered.
This was disclosed today by the Zonal Coordinator of the South-Western branch of the agency, Ibrahim Farinloye.
Farinloye said the boat had operated at night against the inland waterway rules.
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“It was found out that the tide of the water drifted the boat to a stationary barge, which caused it to overturn.
“Marine Police, the National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA), Lagos State WaterWays Authority (LASWA) and volunteers swung into action in trying to rescue some of the victims, but to no avail,” he said.
While noting that recovery operations were still ongoing, Farinloye said it was unclear if passengers had effective life jackets on at the time of the accident.
“It cannot be confirmed if all the passengers, including the captain, were wearing life jackets, but some people claimed some of them were wearing their life jackets, which may not be effective,” he said.
Sixteen people had gone missing following the accident involving a W19 passenger fibre boat headed to Ibeshe from Mile 2.
The accident occurred barely two days after a 20-passenger ferry boat capsized in Lagos, leaving, at least two people dead as a result.
Ijeoma Opara is a journalist with The ICIR. Reach her via [email protected] or @ije_le on Twitter.