3 people die in fresh Lagos boat mishap

In a fresh boat tragedy, no fewer than three persons were Tuesday confirmed dead and two others still missing when two passenger boats had a head-on collision along the Irewe creek in Ojo Local Government, Lagos State.

Fatal boat mishaps have become commonplace in Lagos. on June 29, 2019, a boat mishap occurred on the Lagos lagoon claiming ten lives. Before then, boat mishaps occurred in November 2018 claiming three lives and August 2017 claiming 12 lives, among several others. 

It was gathered that the latest accident occurred at about 6:10pm on Tuesday when both passenger boats were returning from where they had gone to pick fun-seekers that had visited some of the resorts in the riverine communities.

It was gathered that the Lagos State Waterways Authority (LASWA), Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA) and other relevant agencies were still searching for the missing passengers till late Tuesday night. 

Confirming the accident, the General Manager of LASWA, Oluwadamilola Emmanuel, disclosed that 13 passengers were rescued from the mishap.

“There were 10 passengers in a boat coming from Ojo jetty and 8 passengers in another coming from the Irewe community when the incident occurred.

“18 passengers in total were involved with 13 rescued during the operation. But we recorded three fatalities and two passengers including an adult and child are still missing,” he said. 

He assured that search and rescue operation would be intensified by relevant state agencies and the local community who were the first responders at the scene.

According to him, preliminary investigations by LASWA and LASEMA revealed that the incident was caused due to reckless driving and overspeeding on the part of boat drivers, as one of them was not in his right of way.

“Further investigations would be thoroughly carried out by the authority and those found wanting will be sanctioned accordingly,” he said.