The corpse of an unidentified six-year-old girl, being the last victim of the Saturday boat accident in the Badagry area of Lagos State, involving 10 passengers, has been found. The corpse was recovered on Tuesday after floating on the river.
It would be recalled that the boat accident came barely one week after seven persons lost their lives in a similar incident that occurred at Ijede, Ikorodu area of the state.
In the Saturday’s incident, eight passengers and two crew members were aboard a fibre boat which took off from Ebute Iworo Jetty in Ajido in the morning enroute Daddy Luwi when it reportedly hit logs of wood midway into its journey and capsized at about 11am on the said day.
On Sunday, the corpse of an eight-year-old girl, Funmilayo Balogun, was recovered, while the last victim was found yesterday.
The National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA and the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency, LASEMA, confirmed the incident.
NEMA’s Southwest spokesperson, Ibrahim Farinloye said emergency workers were immediately deployed to the scene.
According to him, “The last body was found by the villagers. The water had taken her a bit far from the scene of the crash.”
He said the villagers were on the lookout, adding that her corpse floated on Tuesday and the body was subsequently handed over to her family.
The spokesman warned boat passengers against embarking on any journey without wearing life jackets, adding that sand miners should “assist the river to have free flow and not be the cause of tragedies.
“Jetty operators must ensure that a boat operator has life jackets for all his passengers.
“People who use inland waterways for their transport should endeavour to have their personal life jackets.
“This way, they will be assured of the quality of their life jackets. If they are going anywhere and they are not with it and the boat operator also does not have any life jacket, they must resist the temptation to go,” Farinloye noted.
Comments