How Kogi boat mishap happened – NIWA

Findings from the preliminary investigation into the boat mishap that occurred in Kupa, Kogi State at the weekend, show the accident was due to the boat driver’s attempt to evade the National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) water marshals.

According to NIWA, an eyewitness confirmed that the Marshals were on the waterways en route to Katcha market in Niger State.

Although NIWA has so far rescued 69 passengers, out of which 24 are hospitalised, the tonnage of goods and passengers on board is yet to be ascertained.

Sources at the NIWA office in Lokoja expressed concern over the hostile nature of the community in their attempt to conserve information regarding the incident.

An eye witness who did not want his name in print said the wooden boat left Ebbe community, Kupa South District, Lokoja Local Government Area of Kogi state around 1:00 am, and the visibility was likely very poor around that time.

“I cannot say precisely the number of passengers on board, including what and what the boat was carrying. All I know is that the boat was carrying passengers as it was moving until the accident happened some few minutes to 4 am,” explained the eyewitness, who from his narrative may have been one of the passengers.

Meanwhile, NIWA confirmed the boat mishap was detected through its alert system, which prompted them into activating its search and rescue operations and sending out its teams from the Lokoja and Niger Area offices for quick rescue operations.
“So far, we can only confirm six deaths at the scene of the accident, and only 24 out of the 69 rescued persons are hospitalized while the rest have reunited with their families.

BusinessDay understands that NIWA had reached out to the Government of Kogi State to further sensitise the riverine communities on the dangers of night traveling and over-loading on the inland waterways.