By Rita Okoye
The Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN) has declared Thursday, April 11 as ‘No Shoot Day’ for all Nollywood filmmakers, following the death of actor Junior Pope and three other crew members who died in a boat accident on Anam River in Anambra State on Wednesday.
Emeka Rollas, National President of AGN, in a statement on Thursday said that this happened on a movie set titled ‘The other side of Life’ produced by Adamma Luke.
“Following the tragic incident of a boat mishap that claimed the life of Junior Pope and three other crew members at waterside of River Niger Cable point Asaba on 10th of April, all films that involve riverine areas and boat riding is hereby suspended indefinitely.
“No Shoot on all locations nationwide on Thursday, 11th April 2024 and the film titled ‘The other side of Life’ is suspended indefinitely.
“Also, no actor is allowed to work with Adamma Luke as a producer till further notice, while we keep searching for the bodies of the remaining
persons. May their souls rest in peace,” he said.
The late actor and three of his colleagues were coming back from a movie location in a boat when they fell into Anam River in Anambra State on Wednesday.
Rollas had confirmed Junior Pope’s death after initially claiming on Wednesday that he survived the accident.
He said it was initially believed Junior Pope survived the accident when slight movements of his fingers were noticed.
Mr Rollas took to his instagram page on Thursday to disclose the sad development as he wrote, “It is so so sad that our joy was short lived.”
He added: “My first post was out of excitement when we noticed his tingling fingers. Two notable hospitals tried their best to revive him but to no avail.
“God knows the best. We finally lost him,
Mr Friday’s corpse has been identified but three other corpses are yet to be found.