50 Bodies Recovered As 110 Passengers Drown In Kwara Boat Mishap

No fewer than 50 corpses were said to have been recovered by emergency responders conducting search and rescue operations on the boat accident in Patigi, Kwara State. This is even as authorities in Patigi said that 110 passengers out of the 217 onboard the ill-fated boat drowned in the accident.

Speaking with newsmen on Tuesday, the traditional ruler of Patigi, Ibrahim Bologi II, totalled the dead victims to 110.

According to the traditional ruler, “The latest development now is that a total number of 110 people have died in the accident. It was a boat carrying about 217 people. The local people are joining the search for now and it will extend till tomorrow.”

Corroborating the monarch’s claim on the number of lives lost in the tragedy, the Chairman, Transition Implementation Committee, Patigi LGA, Mohammed Liman, said 110 passengers died in the boat mishap that plunged residents in the local government area into untold anguish.

Liman, while quoting a statement on the tragic development by a community leader, Alhassan Mohammed, said, “About 110 people died in the boat accident in our area. We are telling you about the tragedy and unforgettable memory that happened to my people from our village, Ebu, and other neighbouring villages close to us.

“Our village people went to a wedding ceremony in another village called Gboti and the boat carried about 270 people and almost 110 people were lost.

“The record for each village includes Egbu, 61, Dzakan, 38, Kpada, four, Kuchalu, two, and Sampi, three. This is an unforgettable memory and tragedy in the history of our village.”

As of the time of filing this report, no fewer than 50 corpses were said to have been recovered by emergency responders conducting the search and rescue operation.

However, commenting on the cause of the crash, the Area Manager of the National Inland Waterways Authority in charge of Niger-Kwara areas, Akapo Adeboye, in a chat with newsmen attributed the boat accident to overloading and turbulent winds.

He also said the agency had been educating boat operators to desist from overloading boats with passengers.

Adeboye said, “This is a very sad situation that is avoidable because what led to it was due to overloading of the boat by the operators. They want to make more money and they overload their boats.

“We have educated them through messages in English, Hausa and other languages that are spoken in this area but they won’t listen. We even set up a safety unit and when we apprehend any defaulter, we sanction them through payment of fines which is up to N100,000.

“Despite all our efforts at making sure that they comply with safety standards that they must have life jackets, lifebuoys and other safety equipment on board, many of them (operators) just choose to adopt the easier way out by travelling at night just because they want to avoid our monitoring and safety patrol from being arrested.”

Meanwhile, the Kwara State Governor, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Rafiu Ajakaye, commiserated with the people of Patigi on the devastating tragedy