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By Steve Agbota
Investigations have revealed how the recent passenger boat carrying 16 persons from the same family, including the boat driver, were trapped under a barge on the eve of the last Muslim sallah festival.
The boat, which carried 16 members of Sunmola Aniajogun family from Mile 2, Lagos, heading to Ibeshe, ran into a stationary barge and went under at about 7:45pm on July 8, near a container jetty that was shut down last year. All the passengers and boat driver died.
According to a witness, the passengers, who were going for sallah celebration, were packed in a boat that should carry only 10 passengers. The boat also flouted night sailing rules and regulations.
Daily Sun learnt that some of the passengers could have been rescued immediately but the barge trapped them, which made it difficult for them to come up and spread on the water.
A video clip and photo made by one of the operators revealed that all the passengers were wearing life jackets. It was learnt that the passengers would have floated on the water for rescue but because the boat was trapped under the barge, they were unable to float until the barge was moved the following day.
The chairman of the Association of Tourist Boat Operators and Water Transporters of Nigeria (ATBOWATON), Lagos chapter, Lawal Saheed, said that nobody was happy about the sad incident.
He said the authorities that regulate the boat transport have a lot to do to ensure that such accidents do not occur again, saying that those that regulate have a lot to do as well.
Narrating how the boat mishap happened, he said, ordinarily, if not that the boat ran under the barge and, if there was going to be casualties, it won’t be the all people onboard. He added that there was no way they could have moved out from there because of the way the current came.
According to him, the barge had already trapped the passengers and the boat drivers so they could not come up. Rather, they drowned because the barge choked them until the following day when it was removed.
He said if it was an open space, the people would spread on the water and the rescuers would have come to pick them up one after the other.
He said: “The jetty where the incident happened was not released to operators. We have written letters to the authorities saying that they should release the jetty to us. It was the barge operators that are in charge of the jetty.
“Ordinarily, if not that the boat ran under the barge, and if there was going to be casualty, it won’t be the whole people onboard.
“It is not true that the passengers did not wear life jackets as it is being insinuated but they were trapped under the barge. I have the picture and the video. The barge has been removed and it is no longer in the same spot the incident happened.”
Meanwhile, the national president of ATBOWATON, Ganiyu Tarzan Balogun, said: “When we heard about the unfortunate incident, we learnt that the boat was small for the number of passengers it carried. It was so unfortunate that the boat driver who died could have been in a position to explain how it happened and face the law by serving the punishment for flouting the night sailing rules. This will serve as a lesson to all other boat drivers to always take safety rules and regulations seriously.”
However, Lagos area manager, National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA), Engr. Sarat Braimah, said investigations revealed that the boat loaded at a container jetty that was shut down last year June.
According to her, the jetty was supposed to be loading containers but was shut down because it was not certified for container operations. She said NIWA and the joint committee on barge operations, comprising NPA and NIMASA, closed down the jetty and stationed police officers there to prevent operations from going on there.
“We have been monitoring them and they were not operating. When I heard about the incident, I called the owner of the jetty and asked why a boat loaded from his jetty and he said he was not aware. Those people went there to load illegally.
“One of the staff of the owner of the jetty who is an eyewitness said they saw them loading and questioned them and they said they were waiting for a boat coming from their village to take them. They said they were going for the just concluded festivity.
“He said the boat could not take more than 10 passengers and there were 17 people on the boat, including the captain. The boat went under the barge and the weather also contributed. The weather was bad, and boat operators and passengers should not ply at night because of the waves. Our jetties open by 6am and close by 7pm,” she explained.
Speaking during a condolence visit to Ibeshe community, where the victims of the boat accident resided, she charged boat operators and passengers to be safety-conscious.
“Boat operators must keep to safety rules and regulations such as avoiding night travel and overloading. On the part of the passengers, they should ensure that the operators keep to safety rules and regulations. When they board boats, they should demand life jackets and that the captain of the boat does not carry beyond its capacity.
“The incidents have happened and what we are doing is to ensure that there is no recurrence to make water transport a safe mode of transportation,” she said.
The Ovori of Ibeshe, Oba Alani Gausu, said most boat operators on Lagos waterways do not have formal training and orientation in handling boats nor the rules on the standard of boats to use.
He identified the causes of boat accidents on Lagos waters as human errors and negligence of regulations. He said the operators do not have knowledge of boats, adding that some of them are underage and are addicted to drugs as well as use inferior boats with big engines thereby leading to accidents on the waterways.
“The major problem is human error, things that we neglect as unimportant. Boat operators are dealing with people’s lives. They lack orientation and training. Are there standards of boats that should ply our waterways?
“Are the regulations carried out effectively to hold those who are accountable as a deterrent to others? Most of these operators start their boats without checking if the boats are in perfect shape nor do they have life jackets for the passengers.
“You see underage people handling big engine boats and inferior boats, thereby risking people’s life. Also, they overspeed on the waters. Operators should know they are not transporting objects but human beings,” he said.
Speaking on the recent boat accident that claimed 19 residents of Ibeshe community, the traditional ruler said the captain of the boat carried passengers beyond the capacity of the boat.
“The boat captains do not check the level of fuel and oil in the boat engine. It is after they push the boat to the water that they realise the need to mix the oil and fuel in the engine of the boat,” he said.
The traditional ruler narrated a situation where a boat ferried 10 passengers along with several gallons of petroleum products from Ijegun area to Ibeshe, noting that there would have been a disaster if there was a spark.
He said there is a need for NIWA, LASWA, LAGFERRY, boat operators association, Lagos State government, and other stakeholders to come together and address the issue of boat accidents in riverine areas as human lives are involved.
