For almost a month since the accident happened, pain and gloom have been the lot of the bereaved families, who have had to agonize over the fact that no real search and rescue efforts were initiated by the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA) in the wake of the incident. Even where the unfortunate victims could not be rescued alive, the fam¬ilies say, at least, their dead bodies ought to have been recovered so that they could be given honour¬able burial and thereby allow their wives to have a closure.
Determined that their spouses be given decent burial, the wives have risen with a strident call on the new Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, to compel the manage¬ment of NIMASA to hire deep divers and all necessary equipment to recover the bodies of their hus-bands, trapped in the sunken cabin section of the stricken MT Tank, stating this is one major and only practical way to stir up patriotism in the citizenry.
They further urge the federal government to determine the re¬mote and immediate causes of the tragic incident, stating that it was regrettable and unconscionable that NIMASA, after spending billions in the recent years could still be lacking vital technical facilities which a maritime safety agency like it ought to have, given that similar organizations elsewhere own relevant technologies that facilitate and enhance search and rescue operations in the event of occurrences of the sort that claimed the lives of the seafarers.
For the grieving families, the road to the loss that befell them started on the night of October 19, 2015, about 1.00am, when 11 Nigerians and one Ghanaian were sailing slowly about 5 knots along the Bonga terminal, in Warri, Delta State onboard MT tank, a Nigerian-owned oil vessel, reg¬istered in Tanzania. Then out of the blues, a bigger Martial Islands flagged oil vessel, MT Elixir, reportedly making an innocent passage, collided with MT Tank. The force of the impact ripped off the cabin section of the smaller vessel and before anyone could figure out what had happened, seven Nigerians and a Ghanaian sank with the cabin section and have not been found, dead or alive, till date. The depth of the water around where the accident occurred is said to be 1.5km.
Luckily for MT Tank, three seafarers were on the bridge of the ship and as soon as the ac-cident occurred, they jumped overboard and were rescued by the crew of MT Elixir, while a dead body was also recovered.
Since the fatal accident, family members of the vic¬tims say their lives have been turned upside down as the un¬fortunate incident had cut off their means of livelihood.
Some of the distraught relatives of the victims who spoke with Sunday Sun ex pressed shock at the accident, wondering why no search and rescue efforts were made to see the possibility of rescuing or recovering the bodies of the seafarers in the event that they drowned. The families claim that the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) did not inform them of the accident till about four days after it oc¬curred. They also insist that no attempt at search and rescue had been carried out by NI¬MASA.
Moreover, they want both parties in the accident to speed up discussions on compen¬sation so that they can settle them accordingly.
In an interview , Imade Salami, the elder brother of one of the drowned seafarers, Malcolm Salami, said life had become difficult for the family.
His words: “Malcolm left a wife and two daughters aged seven and five years. His wife is a petty trader. The wife in¬sists her husband will come back alive. She doesn’t want to believe he drowned and died. But we know that the possibility of that happening is 0.1 percent. Worse still, there are no searches being done. Imagine NIMASA an¬nouncing to the public that it does not have divers and ex ¬perts that go down to 1.5km depth. In other words, if this happened again, the same fate that befell these people would befall the seafarers involved. It’s a huge shame. It’s almost a month since the accident hap¬pened. My brother’s wife is still in shock but we are calm¬ing her down. My brother’s daughters have been saying they want to see their father. It hasn’t been easy for them. Taking care of that family is an extra challenge. But their employer, Twinstomp Energy Limited that owns MT Tank that sank paid the immediate families of the seafarers their October salary. The company has not declared them dead. They were just declared miss¬ing and so their entitlements will be paid till they’re de¬clared dead and the final set¬tlement made. We are propos¬ing $1 million (N196 million) for each family. I understand the two companies (owners of MT Tank and MT Elixir) have been talking about com¬pensation. But NIMASA has released the vessel and we only hope that doesn’t stall the compensation talks. This acci¬dent is a challenge. It’s been tough,” he said.
Another family relative who identified himself as Felix said: “This is a huge shame. It can’t happen in Ghana. We were notified after many days. We don’t know what happened to these guys. Were they eaten by sharks? Are they locked in the cabin underwater? The thoughts give one night¬mares. We are suffering. My brother was planning to build us a family house in the vil¬lage. He just bought the land and has done the foundation. The one we’re living in is collapsing. Now, that project may never see the light of day. His wife cries everyday and night. We’re in perpetual pains.”
Shoddy investiga¬tions
The families of the drowned seafarers have accused the NI¬MASA management of shod¬dy investigations as it shut out the Marine Police, the Nige¬rian Navy and other relevant bodies in the investigations.
To ensure proper handling of the matter, the families of the drowned seafarers in a signed undertaking agreed that ace Maritime Lawyer, Olisa Agbakoba (SAN) be in¬volved in the matter.
More so, the Managing Director, Twinstomp Energy Limited, Tosin Kolawole in a statement made available to journalists recently in La¬gos, queried why NIMASA, the apex maritime regulatory agency, did not involve oth¬er relevant agencies in the accident that requires their inputs.
Kolawole further alleged that the action of NIMASA was suspicious, as he recalled that in 2013, NIMASA totally failed to investigate the earlier collision of two vessels MT Niki C and MT Charon. The Twinstomp Energy boss fur¬ther alleged that the incident in 2013 was successfully buried by NIMASA.
“As soon as the incident was brought to our attention on Monday 19th October 2015, we delivered petitions to all relevant law enforce¬ment agencies including the police and Navy. These agen¬cies have made attempts go into the matter but NIMASA has not made that a possibili¬ty. As a matter of fact, all the steps being taken indicate some sinister motives on the part of NIMASA to cover up the matter.”
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