16 were rescued live, 10 died on Thursday and one died on Friday. There was no life jacket on board. Two persons were still missing.
Laide Raheem, Abeokuta
No fewer that eleven persons lost their lives as a boat conveying 29 passengers, capsized on Tafa River, Maun Town in Ipokia local government area of Ogun State. The boat mishap, Sunday Sun gathered, occurred due to engine failure after the boat had already sailed to the middle of the river. According to an eyewitness account, the boat which capsized on Wednesday night, was ferrying passengers and their goods from Badagry in Lagos to Maun Town in Ipokia.
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The source added that 16 passengers were rescued alive, while two were still missing.
But confirming the incident on Saturday, the spokesman of the Ogun Police Command, Abimbola Oyeyemi, blamed the accident on overload of the boat.
He said, “Yes. A boat capsized. It was overloaded. The boat did not have light and traveled in the night . It had a head-on collision with a pillar in the river. The passengers were coming from Badagry in Lagos to Ipokia. It was the last boat and all the 29 traders boarded the boat. 16 were rescued live, 10 died on Thursday and one died on Friday. There was no life jacket on board. Two persons were still missing. The skipper was later arrested after he initially ran away.” Oyeyemi, a DSP, added that the corpses of the victims had been deposited at the morgue of Ipokia General Hospital. Meanwhile, the state governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun had visited the site of the boat mishap to assess the situation.
Represented by a member of the House of Representatives, representing Egbado South/ Ipokia Federal Constituency, Adekunle Akinlade, the governor commiserated with the people of the community, while pledging that the state government will commence regulating water way transport in the area.