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About 20 persons have reportedly burnt to death following the explosion of the engine of wooden market boat, popularly known as ‘Denghe market boat', in the middle of the river at Ezetu l community river in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area of Bayelsa State.
Confirming the incident on Thursday, the Police spokesman in the state, ASP Musa Muhammed, said “The local boat traveling from Ekeni community in Southern Ijaw to Yenagoa had a mishap and sank. About 20 persons were reported to have lost their lives. Efforts are ongoing to recover their corpses."
A community eyewitness disclosed that the incident occurred around 5pm on Wednesday as a local boat conveying passengers and market women had a fire outbreak on their way back from Ezetu community in SILGA.
It was learnt that the market boat usually went from community to community along the coastal areas to do makeshift market before returning to Yenagoa on a weekly basis.
Reacting to the incident, the Chairman of Maritime Workers Union in Bayelsa State, Mr Ipgansi Ogoniba, said the local boat caught fire in the middle of the river while the boat was sailing to Okubie community and burnt some of the passengers onboard.
According to him, “The boat left Ezetu 1 community around 3pm for Okubie; the onboard engine they were using caught fire and exploded. The boat got burnt and sank. Some of the people onboard got drowned.
"There was no network at that point to reach the rescue team from Yenagoa, because wooden boat always takes about 18 hours to reach Yenagoa from that point, while speedboat takes like 5 hours."
Safety Policy
The chairperson of Association of Coastal and Waterways Communities of Nigeria in Bayelsa State, Comrade Odede Dinikpete Tina, who said the incident, occurred due to lack of safety protocols appealed to the government to expedite action by linking more coastal communities to avert incessant loss of lives.
She added that despite several sensitisation the association had carried out on safety protocols, people traveling on waterways still refuse to wear life jackets.
The Executive Chairman of Southern Ijaw Local Government Area, Hon. Target Isaiah Segibo, who also confirmed the ugly accident warned operators against such occurrence by making availability of life jackets to all passengers and ensure that their vessels are in good condition before every journey.
