Less than five minutes after a canoe laden with ten passengers pulled out of its dock at Apapa, Lagos on its way to Sagbokoji Island around 8am penultimate Tuesday, it was swallowed by a massive wave.
The boat went under and only eight people came back up.
When Saturday PUNCH visited Sagbokoji, a fishing community, about 10 minutes from Apapa, on Wednesday, the villagers said that the mishap was caused by a small ship that had also pulled out of its dock close to where the canoe was.
A boat operator, who ferried our correspondent to the community, pointed out the point where the canoe went under. It was close to a dock that had been constructed by an oil company to berth ships in the area.
“We have not recovered two bodies. Maybe they will come up with the wave later in the week,” the young operator, who identified himself as Kingsley, said.
According to his account, his boat was berthed at Sagbokoji’s dock as he prepared to commence the day’s work on Tuesday when the mishap occurred.
Kingsley said, “Anytime a big ship passes by this area, it is always a trouble for smaller boats like ours, especially if it is speeding. The more a ship speeds, the more it generates waves.
“As the ship left its dock, the boat which was already on its way to our village was caught in the big wave that the passing ship created. It turned over and many of the passengers came up.
“We are not allowed to take more than 10 passengers. So, there is no doubt that there were 10 passengers in the ship. We saw the people in the boat in the water. We knew what happened immediately and had to put our boats in the water and sped over to rescue the passengers who were shouting in the water.”
Saturday PUNCH observed that the distance between the dock where the boat took off and Sagbokoji was so short that villagers could see the boats berthed there.
But the boat operators, who effected the rescue, said even though the distance was short, they could not succeed in rescuing all the victims as some of them had drowned.
A boat operator also told Saturday PUNCH that most of the victims floated because of their life jackets.
He said, “Boat operators were just coming out for business at the time. The people in the boat that capsized were traders going to Sagbokoji for their daily business.
“There were some young children in the boat. But I remember that we brought out a young girl. I am not sure whether the ones that drowned were also children.
“Most of us operators can swim. When we got to where the passengers were floating in the water, we jumped in and brought them into our boats and took them ashore. We brought out about eight of them. They later left by themselves.”
When Saturday PUNCH spoke to the Village Head of Sagbokoji, Chief Anthony Ovime, he also affirmed that the victims were traders who came to the community to engage in petty trading.
“Some of them come to sell bread, condiments and other things that the villagers may not be able to access unless they cross the water to Apapa.
“A boat mishap like this is strange in the community. Why I am surprised that some of the victims died is that every boat operator here ensures that their passengers use life jackets.
“I think their death might have to do with the fact that the massive waves generated by the ship incapacitated them.”
But if the waves are massive and they used life jacket, were they not supposed to have floated, Saturday PUNCH asked.
A community leader in Sagbokoji, Mr. Bernard Williams, later offered an explanation, saying the quality of the life jacket might have contributed to the victims drowning.
Williams said, “The use of life jackets is enforced here very well. You can verify for yourself. We ensure that boat operators have enough life jackets in their boats and they are not allowed to pick more than 10 passengers.
“But the problem is that the quality of the life jackets may be why the missing victims did not float like the rest.”
Asked if he knew any of the rescued victims of the mishap in Sagbokoji, William explained that the only victim who resided in the community was a Hausa man who had left with his relations on Tuesday.
“I think he must have been coming from his security guard work that morning. But I heard he left with some of his relations who came for him yesterday (Tuesday).
On the journey to and fro Sagbokoji, our correspondent was offered life jackets.
The operators said they don’t make the jackets. They buy them from a company which makes them in Apapa and assume the quality is good.
Those who witnessed the mishap could not provide a concrete description of the ship which caused the wave that made the boat to capsize.
How a small boat could be swallowed by waves generated by a ship was immediately evident on the return trip as waves rocked the boat violently anytime a yacht passed by.
Ovime and Williams, who were with our correspondent in the boat, said they were used to the waves but warned that there was need for passing vessels to be mindful of the lives of those in smaller boats close by.
Williams said, “I am a sailor as well and anytime I am in a ferry, I use the radio to communicate with passing vessels to slow down. Many of them speed even though there are smaller boats around. This is not supposed to be because they endanger the lives of passengers.
“Water transport is the only means by which we can get to our homes. If the government cares about us and put a couple of standard ferries here to operate, why would we be afraid when a ship passes by because we are in a boat?”
Saturday PUNCH observed that there was no ongoing search for the remains of the missing victims, the operators said they were waiting for the bodies to float.
Williams informed our correspondent two days later (Thursday) that the body of a girl of about estimated to be about 10 years old had been found floating in the water.
Punch
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