Woes of Borno boat mishap

Using agency report, JOHN NWOKOCHA looks at the recent boat mishap in Borno state, and posits that besides loss of lives, economic implication, fatal boat accidents are becoming frequent development around the country that should be arrested
Incessant boat accidents The boat mishap that occurred in Jere local government area of Borno state, has draw attention to incessant boat accidents around the country in recent time.
According to media reports, six bodies out of nine people involved in the mishap have been recovered by local divers.
The boat, it was learnt, was a journey from Zabarmari to Dusuman settlement in the state.
Confirming the accident, Bulama Maidamma, Head of Zabarmari ward, told the media that two females and four males died while three among the passengers were rescued.
Accordig to him, “the two females boarded the boat from Budum area, some of them were heading to Dusuman for the Jummat prayers while others went to attend funeral of a relative.” Maidamma attributed the incident to the heavy wind with sandstorm which lasted for about 30 minutes on the fateful day.
“The boat capsized at the deeper point of the river.
Most of them drowned because they could not swim and were not putting on life jackets.
“Consequently, we mobilised divers to go in search of them.
They were able to rescue three passengers including the driver on Friday.
“However, the ongoing search of the six others took us until Saturday evening to recover their bodies,” he said.
Said Muhammed Labo, a Dusuman indigene and a relative of one of the victims, “my brother who was a GSM technitian was among the victims”.
Labo said his brother went for a funeral of a relative at Dusuman.
33 lives lost in Kebbi In April this year, no fewer than 33 Nigerians died in three boat accidents on the River Niger in Yauri Emirate of Kebbi state, with two of the mishaps occurring on Wednesday and Thursday of the same week.
Unfortunately, the last two accidents occurred in the area a few months after the Senate passed a resolution urging the federal government to urgently implement some measures that could have prevented the accidents.
Blueprint reported that the first accident occurred when a boat ferrying traders to Warra in Ngaski local government area of Kebbi state from Malale market in Borgu local government area of Niger state capsized and killed nine persons.
In the wake of the accident officials of government had declared 25 of the passengers missing after 26 of them were rescued.
However, initial reports had stated that about 150 passengers were crammed into the boat for the ill-fated trip.
But the captain of the boat, Dantata Dogonawarra, and the Chief of Majinga, Abdulmalik Nuhu, gave the official figures during the burial of the bodies recovered from the accident.
The ceremony was attended by the Deputy Leader of the Senate, Bala Ibn Na’Allah, at Warra.
According to Nuhu, “The boat was transporting about 60 passengers when the unfortunate accident occurred and not 150 passengers and 136 people missing as recently reported”.
Although the Chief of Majinga had said at the ceremony that the search for bodies was continuing, no further account was given of the fate of the missing passengers.
In his own account, Dogonawarra narrated, “We hit a stump that caused the accident.
I also lost three of my relations in the accident.
I have never experienced any accident in my over 20 years’ experience as a boat driver on this water”.
Survivor’s story Yusuf Umar, one of the survivors, said the bodies of some of the missing passengers might have been eaten by fish.
“Among those who died are teenage hawkers of groundnut cake,” he added.
The third boat mishap on that Thursday in Yauri reportedly claimed three lives.
Blueprint reporter gathered that the boat had left Binua village with 11 passengers and was rowing to a market in the area when it capsized, killing three of the passengers.
Musa Mohammed, Chairman of Yauri local government area, however, said only two persons, a Fulani woman and an elderly person, had drowned in the accident.
Hear him, “The village is close to the market; they were going to trade in Yauri when the wave accompanied by strong wind forced the canoe to capsize.
The rest of the passengers were rescued by divers in a nearby boat shortly.” He blamed the incident on the boat driver’s refusal to heed the warning issued by officials of the Nigerian Inland Waterways Authority not to embark on the journey.
“He (the boat driver) was warned by the officials not to embark on the journey because of the unfavourable weather condition, but he refused to heed to the advice,” the chairman said.
The previous day, 22 passengers had reportedly died when their boat capsized and split into pieces after also hitting a stump in the full-flowing River Niger.
Boat overloaded But Abdullahi Takwa, Chairman of Yauri Boat Builders and Wakilin Sarkin Ruwa (representative of Chief of the River) on Sunday told our reporter in Yauri that the wooden boat had splintered because it was overloaded with passengers travelling from Jeribago village in Kebbi to Tuteku village in Niger State.
“No, this was due to overloading and not because of a stump as we also heard in earlier reports,” he said.
The chairman said,“15 bodies were first recovered on the day of the accident.
The other seven bodies recovered by Kasabo villager were not reported to the authorities.
These give a total of 22 death in the Wednesday accident” .
He called on the authorities to monitor the activities of boat operators to check their tendency to overload and make them provide life jackets to passengers.
He warned that unless strict compliance was enforced with the rules for travel on water, especially in poor weather conditions, the tragedies would continue.
The Acting Executive Director, State Emergency Management Agency, Abbas Kamba, also confirmed the accidents.
Some fish sellers who spoke to our reporter said they sighted some foreign nationals accompanied by heavily armed security operatives conducting a survey around the river bank area of the Yauri river on Friday, the day after the latest in the series of fatal mishaps.
Ensuring Safety Measures There is no argument about water transportation being a safe and fast means of transportation.
Over the years across the length and breadth of the country riverine communities rely on water transportation for their daily businesses and had had no cause to regret.
Disturbingly, some of the accidents are avoidable.
Whenever the sad incident happened many blamed the governments and their relevant authorities for not ensuring compliance with safety measures on the water ways.
But with frequent fatal accidents on the water ways, the communities have been left in both fear and worry over the safety of their only means of transportation.
And unless governments at all levels take urgent steps to arrest the avoidable deaths and economic loses boat accidents, canoe capsize will continue to occur.