By Uzor Odigbo
The Lagos State government has warned all ferry operators and passengers against violating the laid down rule of ‘No Night Travel’ on the waterways.
It also said that violators would be arrested and prosecuted.
This followed a fatal boat accident that occurred on Friday at about 8pm along Ikorodu Channel of the Lagos State Waterways.
Lagos State Commissioner for Transportation, Dr. Frederic Oladeinde, said that the avoidable boat mishap occurred after an overloaded 20-passenger capacity commercial ferry took off illegally from Èbúté Ẹrọ Jetty around 8pm heading towards Ikorodu but unfortunately ran into an unforeseen object on the waterways causing the boat to capsize.
He said that the immediate rescue efforts deployed by the state government, comprising of Lagos State Inland Waterways Authority (LASWA) search party, local boat operators search team, the Marine Police and the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA) were able to save 16 passengers, one in critical condition, while five deaths were recorded.
The commissioner, alongside the General Manager (LASWA), Mr. Damilola Emmanuel, who was at the Ikorodu scene of the incident, commiserated with the families of the dead passengers and assured that the violators of the mishap would be prosecuted as the unfortunate incident is already under investigation.
Oladeinde appealed to all ferry operators to desist from acting contrary to the stipulated safety guidelines to avoid such incidents, noting that if the rule of ‘No Night Travel’ on the waterways from 6.00pm had been strictly observed by the operators, the accident could have been averted.
In his remarks at the scene of the incident, the General Manager LASWA, Mr. Damilola Emmanuel, reiterated that, henceforth, any operator who violates laid down safety guidelines, especially the ‘no night travel’ rule, would be arrested by the Marine Police and the boat involved confiscated.
He also admonished passengers to stop waterways night journeys as any passenger found on board of such boats after the stipulated time would also be prosecuted in accordance with the relevant laws of the state.
Meanwhile, a female victim of the Ikorodu boat mishap in Lagos has been discovered today by operatives of the National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) in conjunction with other agencies.
Confirming this in a press release, Engr Sarat Braimah, NIWA Area Manager in Lagos, said the body was found after continuous search involving the Lagos State Waterways Authority (LASWA), Marine Police, other emergency and rescue workers.
“They have just found the last body now, another female. I spoke to the husband of the deceased” she said.
With the discovery of the last body, it brings the total number of drowned passengers to 7 as 6 of them were earlier found by the rescue team.
NIWA blamed the incident which happened on Thursday night on violation of safety regulation.
The boat named lalek marine, operated out of Ebute Ero jetty on Friday night by 8pm and capsized on its way to Ikorodu, shortly after departure, with 14 passengers rescued and six dead with one missing.
It said the ill fated Lalek Marine boat failed to adhere to the 6pm sailing regime guiding water transportation services in Lagos.
In a preliminary report on the incident, the Lagos area office of NIWA stated that the boat operator, apart from violating the extant time of operation regime which is at 6pm and not 8pm, the boat operator also overloaded the boat against the covid 19 protocol which allows only 60 per cent carrying capacity for all types of boats to encourage social distancing.