The South-West Coordinator of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Ibrahim Farinloye, has said that the mission to recover the remaining bodies of victims of Tuesday’s boat accident has been suspended.
In a telephone interview with Channels Television, Mr Farinloye said the agency is uncertain as to the exact number of persons who were aboard the boat before the accident. According to him, 13 bodies have been recovered while 6 persons survived.
Contrary to a statement by Lagos State Emergency Agency (LASEMA) that 12 persons had died, Farinloye said the figure was 13 as one of the initial seven who were rescued alive died on the way to the hospital. He maintained that 11 bodies were recovered on Tuesday while one body was recovered on Wednesday morning.
He also stated that the incident had occurred at about 7:30PM on Tuesday and the agency had been alerted via a text message at 11:10PM.
“Immediately, we alerted all the stakeholders. The Navy Special Boat Service, The Nigeria Police Marine, The Nigeria Police Disaster Unit, LASEMA, National Inland Waterways Authority to go for the search,” he said.
Farinloye also mentioned that over 30 local divers were employed to conduct the underwater search but it was suspended till Wednesday evening.
He assured that all agencies were on the same page and that there were no conflicting figures concerning the number of casualties. “Nobody was there when the boat loaded but one of the rescued victims told us there were 24 people on board… some people said 21 but what we are working with is 24.”
He added that “we are having 4 or 5 people missing.”