Chiemelie Ezeobi
Except for one person, all passengers of a 20-seater passenger boat belonging to Sealink Boat Services, which capsized Tuesday at the Ebute Ero area of Lagos, were rescued alive by operatives of the marine police.
The boat, which was conveying 20 passengers capsized at about 10a.m. under the Third Mainland Bridge.
The boat which loaded from the Ikorodu Ebute Jetty was heading to Ebute Ero when it ran over a wooden boat used for sand dredging that had sunk in the water.
Following the crash, the Sealink boat capsized and overturned all passengers and the rider into the water.
When the information filtered out, the marine police division of the Lagos State Police Command in a joint effort with Rapid Response Squad (RRS) and policemen from Oworo Police Division,
stormed the scene and rescued 19 of the passengers of the capsized boat.
It was gathered that it was eyewitnesses who called the officer-in-charge of Marine Police, who immediately deployed seven boats to the scene.
Also deployed to the scene was RRS helicopters, which got the coordinates and mobilised to the scene, leading to the quick rescue of the 19 passengers.
The rescue operation however recovered the corpse of the female passenger, whose husband was fortunately rescued in the  same incident.
Meanwhile, the police have arrested the conductor of the capsized boat after its driver abandoned the passengers and ran away from the scene of the incident.
The rescued passengers along with the conductor of the capsized boat have been taken to the Marine Police Office in Keffi, Obalende, Lagos.
The capsized boat has equally been recovered and taken to marine police  yard while the corpse of the dead passenger have been deposited in mortuary.
