Twenty persons have been confirmed dead in a boat mishap that occurred on Tuesday at about 4:30pm in Ibaji local government area of Kogi State.
An eyewitness, who is a farmer in the local government area, James Otoga, told journalists that the ill-fated boat was fully loaded with people and it departed Onugwa community in Ibaji LGA heading to Ilushi market, but capsized leaving a number of yet-to-be identified people dead.
“The boat was fully loaded with our people going to market for the first of October celebration. Only five survivors have surfaced yet and 20 bodies have been recovered so far and more of our people are lying lifeless beneath the River Niger.
“Even those who came for a burial in Onugwa and returning back to Ilushi are also missing, we are yet to confirm the number of people onboard and those who survived,” he stated.
Confirming the incident, chairman of Ibaji local government area, Hon. Ugeh Emmanuel, through a telephone conversation with journalists, described the incident as the most disastrous in the history of the local government area, saying many people have lost their lives in the accident.
“As I am speaking with you now, nobody can authoritatively say this is the actual number of casualties. And, again we can not even ascertain the number of people onboard right from their departure destination.
“This is a very serious accident, the boat has not even near Ilushi when the mishap occurred around 4:30pm. Most of the victims were moving to Ilushi for the cerebration of October 1, which has been a tradition in the community before they met their untimely death,” Hon. Emmanuel stated.
Recall that in the last one year, there have been numerous boat mishaps in Kogi, Niger and other riverine States where many people lost their lives.
Effort to reach the Managing Director of National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA), Bola Oyebanji and Assistant General Manager (AGM), Corporate Affairs, Suleiman Makama, proved abortive as calls placed to their cell phones could not go through.
