Wale JAGUN
-Commiserates with families of victims
Following the boat mishap which claimed about 18 lives, the Executive Chairman of Ijede Local Council Development Area, Comrade (Alh.) Fatiu Salisu, has called for synergy amongst all tiers of government for effective administration and regulations of waterways transport to prevent the reocurrence of such unfortunate incident .
The accident occurred late night on Saturday, June 29, 2019, when a speed boat commuting 21 passengers from Badore to Egbin jetty capsized around 10pm after it was allegedly hit by several waves.
Comrade Salisu expressed his heart felt condolence to the families and friends of the victims of the boat accident.
As at the press time, 16 dead bodies have so far been recovered from the Lagoon while two bodies are still missing.
It was also gathered that three of the passengers swam safely to the shore.
Hon. Salisu was cited at the scene on Sunday (June 30) and Monday (July 1) monitoring the rescue operation, while he also sympathized with the victims’ families.
In a release signed by himself, Hon. Salisu stated that the preminary report on the incident indicated that the ferry operator went against safety regulations.
“The capsized boat, according to preliminary report, had 21 passengers on board, captain inclusive. All passengers on board were not with life vest, no passenger manifest filled and boat was relatively overloaded.
“As at the time of this report, only 3 passengers survived, 15 bodies recovered dead and search was still on for the remaining 3 bodies. The team of Lagos State Emergency Management Agency(LASEMA) ,Lagos State Waterways Authority(LASWA) ,Lagos State Fire Services ,the Local Fishermen and other relevant agencies were on ground for the rescue and recovery exercise”.
The Chairman urged boat operators to always take all necessary safety precautions when travelling through the water to avoid the recurrence of such ugly but avoidable incident.
Hon. Salisu also called for synergy amongst tiers of government in the administration and regulations of the activities of the ferry services to ensure that all stakeholders are on the same page.
He prayed that Almighty God will grant the families of the bereaved the fortitude to bear the loss and that the community will never witness such incident again.
