One dies in Lagos boat mishap



One person has been confirmed in Lagos following a boat mishap on the Lagos waterways.

The mishap was said to have occurred along the Ojo-Coconut Island waterways, killing one of 10 passengers onboard.

It was learnt that the passengers were rescued with their life jackets properly worn.

According to the Satellite Town zone Canoe paddlers chairman, Adedawunsi Adeniyi, the mishap occurred close to Imore community, near Navy Base Apapa and the victims were rescued by members of the community.

He told The Nation that though the remains of the deceased was yet to be found, an identity card found in his showed his name is Amakachukwu and would be in his 40s.

"I was not there when the boat crashed but I was called and I got there immediately. It happened around 10am at Imore Community. After the rescue operation, we went to the Marine Police office at Onikan and reported. We have not seen one person and we assume he may have died.

"We have been searching for his corpse since Monday and searched all yesterday but we have not seen him still. Some of his relatives met us today an so, we will keep searching.

"It was waves that cause the accident. I suspect that maybe Amakachukwu did not buckle his life jacket because others had their life jackets on when they were rescued," he said.

Confirming the incident, south west spokesman of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Ibrahim Farinloye said no one could determine the cause of the incident.

"There were four bigger boats passing and the wave from the sea destabilized the boat. As the operator was struggling to stabilise the boat, passengers started struggling, leading to the capsize. The body of the missing person is yet to be recovered," he said.

Farinloye further disclosed that NEMA has been training residents near the waterways an boat operators on how to respond to emergency instead of waiting for the appropriate agencies.

"We have been training them on the things to do during an emergency in order to reduce casualty and even today(Tuesday), we had trainings for some of the riverine dwellers," he said

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