No fewer than 19 passengers rescued as they boat they rode in capsized at the Oworonshoki end of the Third Mainland Bridge area of the Lagos on Tuesday.
Managing Director of the Lagos State Waterways Authority (LASWA), Mr. Oluwadamilola Emmanuel, who confirmed the mishap in a statement, said the 19 persons were rescued alive by the agency, while one of the passengers on board the boat was unfortunately lost.
The passenger boat identified as SEALINK was travelling from Ikorodu to CMS when it hit a submerged object at about 9:30am.
While confirming the incident, Emmanuel said the 19 persons rescued have already been taken to Ebute Ero Jetty from where they were transferred to hospital, while further investigations on the cause of the accident were still ongoing.
The LASWA emergency response team recovered a female body (identified as a police officer attached to Zone Two police station) and handed over the corpse to the Marine Police,” LASWA said.
The husband of the dead victim is an official of the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA).
“The submerged SEALINK Boat has been salvaged and towed to a secure location off the waterways. Salvaging Operations is also taking place to get the submerged wooden boat off the navigable channel,” the LASWA boss said.
The crew members of the said SEALINK Boat have already been taken to police custody as investigation is still ongoing.
While commiserating with the family of the deceased, Emmanuel assured that the State Government would not relent in coming up with policies and programmes aimed at ensuring safety on the waterways.