YENOGOA
A female National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) member and a pregnant woman were among passengers who drowned in a boat mishap between Otuan and Ayama communities of Southern Ijaw Local Government Area of Bayelsa.
It was gathered that one of the victims of the mishap was a mother with her two children and a 70 year-old Otuan chief. The boat and the corpses of the victims are still missing at the time of this report.
The boat, with a 15-passenger capacity, rammed into a barrier while trying to berth close to the Ayama community. It was gathered that the Saturday afternoon rain storm, which made all the passengers cover themselves with Tarpaulin, reduced visibility, thus contributing to the incident.
The chairman of the Maritime Union in Otuan Community, Joseph Shedrack, said the boat driver, Lucky Christopher, who survived the accident, has been detained by the police unit in Ayama over alleged reckless driving.
The state chairman of the Maritime Union, Ipigansi Ogoniba, however, said six persons were confirmed missing and dead.
“Six persons died. When the boat got to Ayama, it had a mishap. One corpse was recovered and handed to the family for proper burial, while three adults and three children were still missing or probably dead,” he said.
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