Six yet-to-be-identified persons were at the weekend confirmed dead after an accident in a vessel around Atlas Cove, Lagos.
By Emma Ogbuehi
Six yet-to-be-identified persons were at the weekend confirmed dead after an accident in a vessel around Atlas Cove, Lagos.
The deceased were said to have been working on the tanker of the vessel identified as MT Halima when the accident occurred. It was not clear if the vessel was carrying petroleum products in its tank when the accident occurred.
According to The Nation, a statement from the Nigerian Navy Ship (NNS) BEECROFT confirmed that a distress call was received from the ship through the Western Region Control Centre (WRCC) of the Falcon Eye, a Navy’s Maritime Domain Awareness facility.
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It said after analysing the ship’s coordinates and discovering it was at position 3.04 southwest of the Lagos Fairway Buoy, a rescue party was dispatched from NNS BEECROFT’s taskforce at Atlas Cove which took off from Takwa jetty.
It said: “Accordingly, NNS BEECROFT taskforce stationed at Atlas Cove immediately cast off from Tarkwa Jetty to the vessel anchored at Latitude 06°20’58″N, Longitude 003°21’56″E, a position 3.04 nautical miles south.
The accident happened bare a month after about ten persons died when a boat carrying more than 100 women and children broke apart on a river in Kebbi State.
Agency sources said the vessel, ferrying passengers returning from a farm on the River Niger, broke in half as it approached Samanaji village in Koko-Besse district.
It had been overloaded with passengers “beyond its capacity,”, the political administrator of the district, Yahaya Bello Koko, was quoted to have said.
“We have recovered 10 passengers with the help of local divers while searches for 10 others still missing” continue, said Koko.
“The 10 missing are presumed to have drowned, considering the long hours they have spent in the river.”
More than 80 passengers were rescued, he added.
Capsizes are common on Nigerian waterways due to frequent overloading and lack of maintenance.
