No fewer than three people have been confirmed drowned after a boat ferrying fourteen passengers capsized along the Ibeshe-Ikorodu channel of Lagos State.
The Lagos State Emergency Management Agency disclosed on Tuesday that two bodies had been recovered and 11 passengers were rescued following the accident that occurred at about 7:17 p.m. on Monday.
However, in a telephone interview with reporters on Tuesday, the Managing Director of the Lagos State Waterways Authority, Dr. Damilola Emmanuel, said the last passenger’s body was recovered on Tuesday.
He said, “We have also confirmed today that the last body has been found. This is why we always say rescue and search operations are ongoing.
“We don’t like to just conclude because we were not there at the point of the incident. As we discover more and more, we are also able to confirm. But this particular one (the third drowned passenger) you’re asking about has also passed on.”
According to reports, a 20-passenger capacity boat named Oluwaseyifunmi took off from Addax Jetty before the tragedy struck late Monday evening along the Ikorodu channel.
In a statement made available on Tuesday, the Permanent Secretary of LASEMA, Dr. Olufemi Oke-Osanyintolu, partly said, “All the passengers rescued have been taken to Ibeshe Ferry Terminal.”
Wuraola Alake, the spokesperson for the LASWA, was also quoted as having said in a statement: “At about 7.17 pm today, the 26th of February 2024, a 20-passenger capacity boat named Oluwaseyifunmi, loaded with 14 passengers, was involved in an accident along the Ibeshe/Ikorodu channel en route Ebute Ipakodo Ikorodu taken off from Addax jetty, Lagos.
“Local boat operators from Ibeshe Jetty were the first responders; the LASWA team joined immediately in the rescue operations, in which 11 passengers were rescued with three casualties.
“LASWA and other first responders took all the rescued passengers to the Ibeshe terminal.”
In February, a 17-person ferry going for Ibeshe was hit with submerged beachfront concrete at a building site along a power line corridor in the Lekki-Ikoyi, killing one passenger.
