The National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) has revealed that the boat that capsized on Friday in the waterways of the Ebe community in Kupa South Local Government Area of Kogi State left an abandoned jetty around 1 am.
Recall that over 200 passengers of the ill-fated boat remain unaccounted for and eight bodies have already been brought out of the water as of Saturday morning.
In a statement signed by the NIWA management very late on Friday, the Authority said that it has set up an investigation panel to ascertain the real cause of the accident, the total number of passengers on board, and the owner of the craft.
According to the NIWA statement, “NIWA has sent an emergency rescue team to search for missing passengers as a merchant boat capsized in the waters of Ebe community in Kupa South Local Government Area of Kogi State in the early hour of Friday,29th November 2024.
“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. There are no details of lives lost so far.
“The wooden craft, operated by an unknown boat operator left with an unsubstantiated number of passengers, from an abandoned jetty at 1 am, Friday morning with intent to beat NIWA’s tight surveillance on the waterways.
“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 on board, and the owner of the craft.
“Meanwhile, 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.
“NIWA shall, in due course, release more information after the investigation has been concluded.
“We are shocked by this incident despite all our efforts to sensitise Nigerians about safety measures on waterways. Not quite long after, we unveiled the National Waterways Transportation Code, visited communities and stakeholders to make them buy into our strategy to curb accidents on the water, and also discussed with State governors in Nigeria to partner with us in providing safe watercraft to help move people and goods safely across our waterways and now sadly, this happened.
“NIWA will investigate this accident and will prosecute the boat captain and owner for deliberate disobedience to the Extant law on waterways.”
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