The National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) has sent an emergency rescue team to search for missing passengers following a merchant boat which capsized in the waters of Ebe community in Kupa South Local Government Area of Kogi State on Friday.
Preliminary findings by NIWA indicate that the wooden boat was travelling to the Katcha market in Niger State when it suddenly went under due to poor visibility and overloading, however, there are no details of lives lost so far.
The wooden craft, operated by an unknown boat operator left with unsubstantiated number of passengers, from an abandoned jetty at 1am, Friday morning with intent to beat NIWA’s tight surveillance on the waterways.
Meanwhile, in a bid to unravel the cause of the accident, NIWA has set up an investigation panel to ascertain the real cause of the accident, the total number of passengers onboard, and the owner of the craft.
A member of the top management team of NIWA is leading and coordinating the rescue operations as well as making sure the survivors of the boat mishap receive urgent medical attention.
The inland waterways authority, assured that it shall, in due course, release more information after the investigation has been concluded.
“We are shocked by this incident despite all our efforts to sensitize Nigerians about safety measures on waterways. Not quite long, we unveiled the National Waterways Transportation Code, visited communities and stakeholders to make them have a buy in to our strategy to curb accidents on water, and also discussed with State governors in Nigeria to partner with us in providing safe water crafts to help move people and goods safely across our waterways.
“Sadly, this happened; but NIWA will investigate this accident and will prosecute the boat captain and owner for deliberate disobedience to the Extant law on waterways,” the NIWA Managing Director, Bola Oyebamiji, assured.
