A boat accident in the Ilashe area of Lagos State has led to the death of no fewer than 12 persons on Sunday.

The Lagos State Government confirmed the death of the 12 passengers, adding that four others were rescued and were being treated in a hospital.

The state government said the accident was caused by overloading and failure of the passengers to put on standard life jackets.

Managing Director of Lagos State Waterways Authority, Abisola Kamson, said, “The accident was caused by overloading of passengers on a Banana boat and operation of illegal jetty.

“The government commiserates with the families of those that lost their loved ones, but this accident has again brought to the fore the need for the National Inland Waterways Authority to respect the verdict of the Court of Appeal which upheld the powers of a state government to control its intra-inland waterways.

“Since the judgement was pronounced, NIWA has rejected all the state’s water guards monitoring standards for federal-owned jetties.”

National Emergency Management Agency, South-West, Ibrahim Farinloye said the victims were coming from church.

“There is no indication that anyone had life jacket on when the incident happened,” he added.

Azeez