Boat heading to Cameroon from Calabar capsize, 2 confirmed dead, many missing 

A passenger boat which took off from Marina jetty in Calabar, Cross River State, enroute the Republic of Cameroon has capsized in the high sea, with two passengers confirmed dead.

The boat with 25 passengers which left its takeoff point at Marina in Calabar, ran into high tidal waves on the high sea near the Cameroon waterways and sank with goods worth millions.

A businessman, whose goods were in the boat, also confirmed the incident.

Mr. Samuel Chukwuemeka who is one of the major distributors for Molfix diapers in Nigeria said his multi-million naira worth of goods were loaded in the boat with others such as wine and beverages.

Chukwuemeka said he was informed of the incident on Wednesday and none of his goods could be rescued.

He said his goods in the boat were for his customers in Cameroon.

“It was late at night hours, going into Wednesday morning that I got a call that the boat had issues on the way.

“The person didn’t tell me what was the actual issue until Wednesday morning that I got the information that the boat sank and all the goods and passengers could not be found,” he stated.

Cross River State Police spokesman SP Irene Ugbo confirmed that the incident had been reported to the Marine Police department.

She said two dead bodies have been discovered, five survivors brought back to the Calabar base while a number of other passengers were missing.