No fewer than 13 persons, including two
children, were yesterday confirmed dead – four others were presumed missing –
following a boat mishap at a canal located between Fourth and Sixth avenues,
FESTAC Town on the outskirts of Lagos.
Six persons, including Samuel Ochina, Joseph
Essien, Mane Temisan, Etukofot Goddery and Daniel Peters, were rescued by local
divers and emergency agencies officials. They were taken to the Lagos
University Teahing Hospital (LASUTH) for treatment.
The canal is reportedly a haven oil vandals.
The Nation reported last year the activities
of the vandals whose illegal bunkering the residents have decried as a result
of the gross environmental pollution and health hazards they are exposed to.
Eyewitnesses blamed the mishap on
overloading, noting that the boat had about 24 passengers against its capacity
of 10 to 17 people. he incident occurred at about 7:30pm on Tuesday while most
of the occupants were rushing to Fourth Avenue to watch the Arsenal and Bayern
Munich match.
According to a local diver, David Mark, who
said he was on queue to join the next canoe before the incident, “a little girl
warned the passengers and boat owner that the canoe will capsize due to
overload”.
“She told them that the weight was too much
and that some of them should go down to avoid capsize, but they did not listen
to her.
“I heard her shouting ‘this canoe will tumble
and I will swim my way out. I doubt if most of you can swim. It appears you do
not want to do the right thing. The weight is too much’, yet they refused to
yield her advice because most of them were running to watch football.
“Less than three minutes after the boat took
off, it started staggering and the passengers were just shouting that the dirty
water was touching them.
“By the time it got to the middle, it
eventually tumbled and I watched the little girl swim out and went away. I may
not be able to recognise her but I think she stays on the other side (pointing
to 6th avenue).
“The boat operator also died. That boat was
supposed to carry a maximum of 17 passengers.
“Immediately, I pulled my clothes and dived
into the water along with others who know how to swim, but we could only save
seven lives after several hours because the carnal is swampy.
“The others we recovered Tuesday night (11)
were dead and we were told that one of the seven victims also died in the
hospital.”
Mark said officials of the Lagos State
Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA), led by the General Manager, Dr. Femi
Osayintolu, were on the scene.
Other divers, Anthony Ogbabon, Yusuf Yaya and
Tony Priye, corroborated Mark’s story.
Ogbabon, who said he lost his younger
brother, Ebuka, in the mishap, did not know that he was a victim until he saw
his body.
“I got here around 10pm after I was called that
a boat had capsized and people were trapped underwater. Because I know how to
swim, I quickly rushed down to help save lives. I did not know my brother was
among the victims.
“We recovered about 11 men and a woman (all
dead). I was shocked when I saw my brother’s body. Ebuka left the house to
watch a match but it did not occur to me he could be among.
“At that point (5am), I followed others to
take his body to the mortuary and I went home from there. So, I just came back
this morning to continue searching for others because they said four or five
more people were missing.”
Yaya said he saw five people come out of the
boat at about 7:40pm while local divers were struggling to save lives.
“Immediately the boat capsized, five people
came out. That was before I entered the water. Then, I joined others for the
operation and I left around 12:30am.
“As we were still here, the Local Government
Chairman (Ayodele Adewale) came in. He was crying,” said Yaya.
Osayintolu said 19 persons had been
recovered.
He said: “Although we did not get the
information early enough, we joined forces with the Local Emergency Management
Agency (LEMA) to save some lives.
“Seven persons were rescued alive, one of
them, a lady, unfortunately, died in the process of evacuation before we got to
LASUTH. Then, another victim was given first aid at the scene and discharged.
Five others were taken to the hospital for observation.
“They have also been treated and discharged
today (Wednesday). But, unfortunately, 13 lives were lost,” said Osayintolu.
Sympathising with families of the deceased,
Osayintolu warned that the state government would no longer tolerate
lawlessness on its waterways, noting that “a lot has been put in place to
ensure safety, yet people keep flaunting the laws”.
“We have appealed to our people to ensure
they use life jackets whenever they are using water transportation. They are
basic things needed for sea transportation and for safety.”
One crash too many…
Relatives of the deceased and missing persons
wandered the place in search of their loved ones or their remains.
While some onlookers lamented the loss of
three sons by one family, others that a destitute woman with two of her
children (a boy and girl) who boarded the boat were yet to be found.
People, especially women, were wailing and
mentioning names of those they presumed were yet to be recovered from the
canal.
An old woman, whose identity was not
immediately known wept and asked to be allowed to go and see the canal, but she
was persuaded out of the premises by sympathisers who said she lost her child.
A man, Osaro Okungbo, who told The Nation
that he was called to identify his younger brother Uyi’s body on Tuesday night.
He said: “I do not know what to do or say. I
do not even know what to tell my parents who are still alive and in Edo State.
Uyi is a student and I was surprised when I got a call to come to the canal
that an accident has occurred.
“Getting here, I was shown my younger
brother’s lifeless body. I could not take it and so I stepped aside. Then, much
later, we were told to come back this morning to claim our relatives. That is
why I came here.
“Though I have not seen my brother this
morning, I was told that the government people have taken all the bodies to the
mortuary in Yaba and that we should go there to claim our relatives,” Okungbo
said.
Government seals off route…
Amuwo Odofin Chairman Adewale said the route
would be permanently sealed, since all efforts to stop the people from commuting
through it yielded no positive results.
He said there was no plan by the government
to build a bridge across the canal, given that the Festac link bridge is less
tham 10 minutes walk from the disaster site.
Adewale disclosed that the local government
had in the last two years, temporarily closed the route with chains, but the
people always found a way to cut off the chains.
“I think the nearest bridge, which is just
about 2000 metres away, is enough to take care of the needs of the people. The
problem is that the people do not want to move away from their old trend of
commuting through this route. The bridge that was here before was a makeshift
bridge and it collapsed over 12 years ago.
“We have gone ahead to provide tricycle parks
at both ends of the Avenues to make it easier for the people, yet they choose
to go the other way. A lot of effort was put in place to discourage them from
plying this route. We even put signs indicating the danger.
“But since those efforts did not work, the
next option for us is to permanently block the road. We had been reluctant in
doing so because of emergency situations so that this canal can serve as escape
route or for security operations, but we do not have another option now than to
block the gates permanently to forestall a re-occurrence,” Adewale said.
Residents who thronged the scene to
sympathise with relatives of the deceased vented their anger on the government
and journalists present at the scene.
Some of them, shouting at the top of their
voices, accused the media of “bad journalism” for interviewing government
officials who visited the site.
The residents blamed the mishap on the
government’s non provision of a pedestrian bridge, which has made the people to
take their fate in their hands.
“Imagine these journalists, is that what you
people are taught to do? How can you be interviewing government officials who
will only tell lies.
“We have for over four years now appealed
that a bridge be constructed here to link Fourth and Sixth Avenues but no one
listened.
“Now that more than 13 people have died, they
have come here to start saying what they like on television. We will seize your
cameras if you do not know what you are here for,” screamed some of the angry
youths.
For Mark (the diver), there is need for a
link bridge for easy movement of residents of both Avenues.
“The last bridge that was here collapsed some
years ago and, since then, government has refused to construct another one.
“Private individuals and even churches here
have made moves to build a bridge but the tools of the workers they brought
were seized by the government on grounds that it is the government’s
responsibility.
“A similar incident had occurred here last
year but people did not die because that boat capsized at the shore and so,
they quickly jumped out, but this one is really unfortunate.
“I do not know why the government would not
build a pedestrian bridge here for us to be free. This is a shortcut and it
saves us time and money. Because of the high cost of motorcycle and tricycle
transportation on the route (N300), people coming to Fourth Avenue will rather
join the boat which is just N10.
“What we are demanding is a walkway and not a
bridge for cars. They can use iron to construct, it like it was done in
Ajagunle. That is our demand and it is not too much for the government to
meet,” Mark said.