The Police in the state capital, Yenagoa, identified the victim as Sun Ebi.
According to the Police, while others managed to swim to safety, the boat driver died in the water after the attack.
His body has since been recovered.
Spokesman of the Bayelsa State Police Command, Fidelis Odunna, who confirmed the incident, said that the Command had taken delivery of 40 gunboats donated to it by the state government.
Odunna said that the new gunboats would assist the Command in combating sea piracy across the state.
Chairman, Brass District of the Maritime Workers’ Union of Nigeria (MWUN), Magnus Angel, described the attack and the boat driver’s death as shocking.
According to Magnus, the passenger boat was attacked along the Brass waters on Tuesday at about 6.00pm.
“The passenger boat was travelling from Yenagoa to Brass when the armed pirates attacked. In the ensuing confusion, passengers jumped into the water, while the pirates ransacked their belongings and fired sporadically,” he said.
He appealed to security agencies and the state government to protect coastal folks from sea pirates’ attacks, stressing that travelling along the waterways of the state was becoming a nightmare.
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