Not less than 17 bodies have so far been recovered from the boat mishap which occurred on the Mile 2- Ibeshe route in Lagos last Saturday.
According to the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), 13 more bodies recovered in its latest operations in searching for missing passengers has pushed the fatalities to 17 from the initial four.
“Late yesterday night, two more bodies were recovered in addition to the two earlier recovered in the morning.
“With this, a total of 17 bodies have been recovered,” the agency’s South-West Zonal Coordinator, Mr Ibrahim Farinloye, said in a statement a copy of which was obtained by Persecondnews.
He frowned at what he called illegal boat operators plying the waterways beyond the stipulated official hours.
This, he said, had resulted in avoidable boat mishaps and loss of lives.
“The act is a gross violation of the waterways guidelines for operators.
“It was revealed that the regulatory bodies have tried to stamp out illegal operations of small boat operators, who hardly use life jackets after official hours.
“But they do not heed to regulations put in place to stop them. It was also observed that wooden boats are not permitted to be used as passenger boats.
“But it is only at this odd hour that illegal operators always put the lives of unsuspecting passengers at risk,’’ Farinloye said.
The NEMA official said stakeholders including the Nigerian Navy’s Special Boat Service, the Association of Boat/Ferry Operators of Nigeria and the Lagos State Waterways Authority (LASWA) were strategizing to stamp out illegal boat operations.
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