Relatives and sympathisers were full of emotion Thursday at Ikorodu area
of Lagos, scene of the ill-fated boat mishap which capsized around 6pm on
Wednesday upon the confirmation by government officials that a pregnant woman
and an intending couple preparing for wedding were also victims.
As early as 6a.m, sympathisers gathered at the scene to commiserate with
the water transport company, Bell Marine Jerry whose boat was involved in the
tragedy.
Although there was a conflicting account of what led to the accident as
some survivours attributed it to overloading, the management of the company
insisted the boat only carried 20 passengers as specified and recommended by
technical personnel.
Among those who lost their lives was an intended couple (names withheld)
who planned to consummate their wedding next weekend, a pregnant woman, a baby
and four others. Their bodies are said to have been deposited in the mortuary.
Some of the survivors said that the transport company operating the boat
services should be blamed for the mishaps.
One of the survivors, 28-year-old Abimbola Bunmi, who lost N350, 000 to
the accident blamed the company for the tragedy, saying the boat was stucked on
the water for about 30 minutes without any assistant from the company.
Bunmi, a shoe dealer at Idumota area of Lagos, said the boat operator
made several calls to the Jetty without any luck.
The survivour who was among the 11 rescued alive said three of them were
rescued by a fisherman while seven others were rescued by the company.
“The boat was on top speed coupled with the wave of the lagoon which
threw us into panic and we started shouting but the boat operator calmed us
down and assured us of our safety. On getting to Iyana-Oworo, the wave was so
high that the boat could not stand it until it hit an object and stucked to the
lagoon.
“There was a shout for help in the atmosphere such that the operator
abandoned us, picked his cell phone and made several calls to the company.
However, there was no response from the company until a fisherman came to our
rescue.
“Unfortunately, he could only carry three of us and others continued
shouting for help. By this time, the boat could not withstand the situation and
capsized such that the passengers became tired. This was around 7pm when
everybody had lost hope and an empty boat came on board to rescue them, but
this was too late for those who did not survive it,” she said.
Bunmi said all the passengers wore life jackets except a baby and
insisted that there were 25 passengers on board as against 20.
Another survivor, Abegunde Tajudeen said the seven victims could have
survived the accident had the company promptly come their rescue.
He said: In spite of the several calls made to the company, they did not
arrive on time. To compound the problem, the boat manager was seeing dinning
and winning few minutes after the incident.”
Meanwhile, spokesperson for the National Emergency Management Agency for
South-West, Mr. Ibrahim Farinloye, said there was a conflicting figure of the
passengers on board the illfated boat.
Farinloye said: “Relations of a couple who were to wed next weekend has
just informed us that the couple was in the ill-fated boat. Body of the wife
was found in the morgue while the husband was not found. The missing man car is
still at Bell Marine Jetty while search for his body continues. It means the
information by the owner of the company, Mr. Ben Kalejaye that there were only
20 passengers on board was incorrect.”
The ill-fated boat “Ben Marine 4” was said to have left Ebute-Ero around
5.34pm and capsized few minutes later leaving 11 people alive, seven dead while
six were said to be missing.
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