by ‘Jola Sotubo

The boat mishap which occurred late on Wednesday between the Eko Bridge and Ikorodu waterways in Lagos is believed to have claimed about 10 lives.

One of the survivors, Bunmi Abimbola, 28, has blamed the incident on overspeeding and overloading.

She said:

“The boat left the Ebutte-Ero Jetty at 5:34pm. I was eating at the time and I complained about the number of the passengers on-board, but he said that it could not adversely affect the boat.

“Immediately he left the jetty, he sped off and the wave was very high. A few minutes after, the boat rammed into a rock in the water.”

“After the accident, the boat was stuck in the water for about 30 minutes as the operator made several calls to both jetties for rescue. None came.

“The boat was running at top speed coupled with the wave, which threw us into panic and we started shouting but the boat operator calmed us down and assured us of our safety.

“On getting to Iyana-Oworo, the wave was so high that the boat could not stand it until it hit an object and got stuck.

“Most of us started shouting for help. The operator ignored us, picked his cell phone and made several calls to the company.

“However, there was no response from the company until a fisherman came to our rescue.

“Of the 12 persons rescued, three were rescued by the fisherman, while seven others were rescued by the company and the Federal and state emergency teams.

“Unfortunately, the fisherman could only carry three of us, while others continued shouting for help. By this time, the boat had capsized and the passengers had become tired.

“At around 7pm, when everybody had lost hope, an empty boat came. But this was too late as seven of them had died.

“My husband has warned me to relocate my goods from Lagos to Ikorodu, but I asked him to give me some time.

“Yesterday’s (Wednesday) incident was avoidable. The boat in question was substandard and the company didn’t care for the passengers’ lives.”

Another survivor, Abegunde Tajudeen, blamed the deaths of some victims on a late response to distress calls after the accident happened.

He said:

“In spite of the several calls made to the company, they did not arrive on time. To compound the problem, the boat manager was seen dinning and winning few minutes after the incident.”

This latest boat mishap is coming barely a month after about 13 people lost their lives when a boat conveying them across a canal capsized in the FESTAC area of the state.