Seven die in Lagos boat mishap; govt talks tough, summons emergency meeting with operators

No fewer than seven persons lost their lives when a boat in which they were travelling capsized at Ijede, a suburb of Ikorodu, Lagos State on Saturday.
The ill-fated boat was headed for the Badore Jetty in Ajah, when the incident occurred about 10:10 a.m.
Freedom Online learned that the incident was caused by a heap of sand allegedly left by dregders who operated in the area recently.
It was the first fatal incident involving a commercial boat operator in the area.
Mr Hakeem Balogun, the General Manager (Operations) of Tarzan Boats, said that the incident occurred minutes after the monthly state-wide sanitation was concluded.
“This morning, between 10:05 a.m. and 10:10 a.m., just immediately after the sanitation, the first 20-passenger boat moved from our jetty at Ijede, with only 17 persons onboard.
“After another 10 minutes, a second boat followed. But just a few minutes after, I saw the same boat returning to disembark its passengers and the captain told me that the first boat had an accident.
“We stopped operation and deployed all our boats for its rescue. For now, we’ve recorded about seven lost lives.’’
Balogun, whose company manages the jetty, added that he contacted relevant government agencies to report the incident, saying: “I called the Police, the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), the Lagos State Waterways Authority (LASWA) and all others concerned about the accident.’’.
He explained that two of the corpses were still in the custody of the Ijede Police Division, three at the Ikorodu General Hospital, while another two had been taken away by the bereaved families.
According to Balogun, the captain of the ill-fated boat, who was among those rescued, said the accident which occurred three minutes after departure, was caused by the activities of the dredgers.
“He said they heard a loud noise on impact, before the boat capsized, very close to the spot where a mechanised dredger was working.’’
“It was when we got there that we saw that the boat actually hit a heap of sand left there by the mechanised dredgers.
“This is what we have been experiencing since the dredgers came here; the same route you plied on your way going, without any incident, could have had a heap of sand on your return journey.
“A similar incident almost happened about four weeks ago, but we lost our engine and the boat was damaged,’’ Balogun said.
Meanwhile, boat operations have been suspended and some sympathisers gathered at the jetty as at the time of this report.
An eye-witness, Mr Olanrewaju Azeez, who assisted in the rescue operation, said, “we were offshore and we heard people calling for help.
“We hurried to the jetty for rescue and resuscitation efforts; I counted at least four corpses, while eight others were taken to the hospital.’’
Mrs Abisola Kamson, the Managing Director, Lagos State Waterways Authority (LASWA), who visited the scene, said that it was too early to give accurate information about the cause of the incident.
“We cannot give you the situation report now as we are still trying to confirm the details.
“We don’t want to give any information now until we reconcile some conflicting reports. Once we confirm all the details, we will issue a statement,’’ she said.
The Divisional Police Officer, Ijede Divisional Headquarters, Mr Ward Ogbu, confirmed the incident.
Following the boat mishap, LASWA has summoned an emergency meeting with all commercial boat operators in the state on Tuesday, just as it vowed to clamp down on boat operators who continue to contravene the rules and regulations guiding their operations.
In a statement by Kamson, the meeting which will focus on the compliance of safety standards of vessels operating on the state waterways, will hold at the LASWA office in Falomo, Ikoyi by 9:30am.
“Despite efforts by the State Government to enforce the safety standards on the waterways, some boat operators still flout the rules and regulations thereby putting the lives of innocent citizens at risk”.
“The Lagos State Government will not tolerate the operation of substandard vessels on the waterways. Any individual or corporate entity found to be operating vessels not deemed water worthy will be prosecuted in accordance with the provisions of the law,” she said.
She said although all passengers on the boat were wearing their life jackets, the covered design of the boat made rescue efforts challenging.
Kamson said that survivors rescued were immediately taken to the Ijede General Hospital for treatment, while investigations are ongoing in collaboration with the Marine Police.
The LASWA boss who was at the scene of the incident reaffirmed the State Government’s commitment to ensuring all operators plying the Lagos waterways comply with safety standards to prevent future loss of life and property.No fewer than seven persons lost their lives when a boat in which they were travelling capsized at Ijede, a suburb of Ikorodu, Lagos State on Saturday.
The ill-fated boat was headed for the Badore Jetty in Ajah, when the incident occurred about 10:10 a.m.
Freedom Online learned that the incident was caused by a heap of sand allegedly left by dregders who operated in the area recently.
It was the first fatal incident involving a commercial boat operator in the area.
Mr Hakeem Balogun, the General Manager (Operations) of Tarzan Boats, said that the incident occurred minutes after the monthly state-wide sanitation was concluded.
“This morning, between 10:05 a.m. and 10:10 a.m., just immediately after the sanitation, the first 20-passenger boat moved from our jetty at Ijede, with only 17 persons onboard.
“After another 10 minutes, a second boat followed. But just a few minutes after, I saw the same boat returning to disembark its passengers and the captain told me that the first boat had an accident.
“We stopped operation and deployed all our boats for its rescue. For now, we’ve recorded about seven lost lives.’’
Balogun, whose company manages the jetty, added that he contacted relevant government agencies to report the incident, saying: “I called the Police, the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), the Lagos State Waterways Authority (LASWA) and all others concerned about the accident.’’.
He explained that two of the corpses were still in the custody of the Ijede Police Division, three at the Ikorodu General Hospital, while another two had been taken away by the bereaved families.
According to Balogun, the captain of the ill-fated boat, who was among those rescued, said the accident which occurred three minutes after departure, was caused by the activities of the dredgers.
“He said they heard a loud noise on impact, before the boat capsized, very close to the spot where a mechanised dredger was working.’’
“It was when we got there that we saw that the boat actually hit a heap of sand left there by the mechanised dredgers.
“This is what we have been experiencing since the dredgers came here; the same route you plied on your way going, without any incident, could have had a heap of sand on your return journey.
“A similar incident almost happened about four weeks ago, but we lost our engine and the boat was damaged,’’ Balogun said.
Meanwhile, boat operations have been suspended and some sympathisers gathered at the jetty as at the time of this report.
An eye-witness, Mr Olanrewaju Azeez, who assisted in the rescue operation, said, “we were offshore and we heard people calling for help.
“We hurried to the jetty for rescue and resuscitation efforts; I counted at least four corpses, while eight others were taken to the hospital.’’
Mrs Abisola Kamson, the Managing Director, Lagos State Waterways Authority (LASWA), who visited the scene, said that it was too early to give accurate information about the cause of the incident.
“We cannot give you the situation report now as we are still trying to confirm the details.
“We don’t want to give any information now until we reconcile some conflicting reports. Once we confirm all the details, we will issue a statement,’’ she said.
The Divisional Police Officer, Ijede Divisional Headquarters, Mr Ward Ogbu, confirmed the incident.
Following the boat mishap, LASWA has summoned an emergency meeting with all commercial boat operators in the state on Tuesday, just as it vowed to clamp down on boat operators who continue to contravene the rules and regulations guiding their operations.
In a statement by Kamson, the meeting which will focus on the compliance of safety standards of vessels operating on the state waterways, will hold at the LASWA office in Falomo, Ikoyi by 9:30am.
“Despite efforts by the State Government to enforce the safety standards on the waterways, some boat operators still flout the rules and regulations thereby putting the lives of innocent citizens at risk”.
“The Lagos State Government will not tolerate the operation of substandard vessels on the waterways. Any individual or corporate entity found to be operating vessels not deemed water worthy will be prosecuted in accordance with the provisions of the law,” she said.
She said although all passengers on the boat were wearing their life jackets, the covered design of the boat made rescue efforts challenging.
Kamson said that survivors rescued were immediately taken to the Ijede General Hospital for treatment, while investigations are ongoing in collaboration with the Marine Police.
The LASWA boss reaffirmed the state government’s commitment to ensuring all operators plying the Lagos waterways comply with safety standards to prevent future loss of life and property.