About 20 persons were on Wednesday evening burnt to death as the engine of a wooden market boat popularly known as ‘Denghe market boat’ exploded in the middle of the river and sank at Ezetu 1 Community in Southern Ijaw local government area of Bayelsa State.
The Bayelsa State Police Public Relations Officer, ASP Musa Muhammed, who confirmed the incident to newsmen yesterday, said rescue operations are ongoing to recover the drowned passengers of the ill-fated boat.
“The local boat travelling from Ekeni community in Southern Ijaw to Yenagoa had a mishap and sank, and about 20 persons were reported to have lost their lives, while efforts are ongoing to recover their corpses”, he said.
According to community source, the unfortunate incident occurred around 4:30pm on Wednesday, as a local boat conveying passengers and market women had a fire outbreak on their way back from Ezetu Community heading to the popular Swali Market in Yenagoa local government area.
It was learned that the market boat usually goes from community to community along the coastal areas to do makeshift market before returning to Yenagoa on weekly basis.
The chairman of Maritime Workers Union in Bayelsa State, Mr Ipigansi Ogoniba, who also confirmed the boat accident, said the local boat went into flames in the middle of the river while the boat was sailing to Okubie community and burnt some of the passengers onboard.
He said the number of casualties cannot be ascertained at the time of filing the report because the search operation is still ongoing, but that the rescue team from the union that went to the scene was able to recover one corpse late in the evening of Wednesday.
He said: “The boat left Ezetu 1 community around 3pm as they were coming to Okubie, the onboard engine they were using went into flames and exploded, so the boat got burnt and sank, some of the people on board were drowned in the water, there was no network at that point to reach the rescue team from Yenagoa, because that wooden boat always take about 18 hours to reach Yenagoa from that point, while speedboat takes like 5 hours.”
The chairperson of the Association of Coastal and Waterways Communities of Nigeria in Bayelsa State, Comrade Odede Dinikpete Tina, ascribed the larger number of casualties to the inability of the boat operators in the state, to stick to safety protocols, especially wearing life jackets while onboard.
She pleaded with the state government to intensify efforts in linking more coastal communities by road in order to curb incessant loss of lives in the river, adding that despite several sensitizations the association has carried out on safety protocols, people travelling on waterways still refuse to wear life jackets.
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