13 more bodies have been recovered from the ill-fated boat sailing from Mile 2 to Ibeshe, a suburb of Lagos, on Saturday, bringing the total dead bodies recovered to 17.
The National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA, Zonal Coordinator, South-West, Mr Ibrahim Farinloye, made the disclosure in a statement, yesterday, in Lagos.
Farinloye said: “Late yesterday night (Saturday), two more bodies were recovered in addition to the two earlier recovered in the morning. With this, it is now a total of 17 bodies recovered.
“It has been found out that illegal operators are rendering services after the end of official hours of 7:00pm, thereby violating the Inland Waterway operations rules.
“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 more efforts will be put in place to stop them.
“It was also observed that wooden boats are not permitted to be used as passengers’ boat but it is only at these odd hours the illegal operators always put the lives of unsuspecting passengers at risk.
“Efforts are on to address the gaps with all stakeholders such as Nigerian Navy’s Special Boat Service, Association of Boat/Ferry Operators of Nigeria, LASWA, NIWA, NEMA and Marine Police to address the situation.”
