Boat in a River

Four corpses have so far been recovered from the scene of the boat mishap, which occurred on Friday in Sagbama on River Forcados in Bayelsa State.

A source near the accident scene told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that  the corpses floated after 24 hours.

The source said two of the corpses, which were of male victims, were recovered from the river on yesterday, while the rest two bodies were recovered at Ebedebiri town, along the same river.

Another source also told NAN that one of the victims of the mishap was Oyinkuro Ogidi from Agoloma town in Delta State.

He added that his remains had been buried after a formal report at the Sagbama police station.

NAN gathered that the other three victims had been deposited at the Patani General Hospital's  mortuary.

The four victims were said to be travelling to attend the burial of a colleague’s father.
NAN recalled that eight persons had drowned in a boat mishap at the Sagbama axis of the Forcados River in the Sagbama Local Government Area of Bayelsa State on Friday night.
The mishap was said to have resulted from an excessive overloading of passengers and goods as 30 persons were said to have been on board the boat.

Several bags of rice and assorted drinks were also found at the scene of the accident, while as at the time of filing this report, local divers and sympathisers were still searching for the remains of other passengers.

A survivor from the accident, Mrs. Maku Kememiaghaye, said she escaped death by the whiskers when a speed boat came to rescue some of them.

She attributed the mishap to overloading on the part of the boat’s operators.
When contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), ASP Eguaveon Emokpai, however, told NAN he was yet to receive formal report on the incident.