No fewer than 166 passengers reportedly died off Malabo, Equatorial Guinea waterways, about 40 nautical miles off the coast of Calabar, Cross River State, when a boat carrying them capsized.
Already, corpses of 45 of the victims have been deposited at the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital mortuary, while rescue operations were still on.
Eyewitnesses told our correspondent on Tuesday in Calabar that the accident happened on March 15.
According to him, the passengers were travelling in a ‘giant-sized wooden boat’ from Oron in Akwa Ibom State to Gabon, when it capsized on the Malabo waterways.
The Assistant Director, Information, Cross River Emergency Management Agency, Mr. David Akate, who confirmed the incident, did not however give further details.
But one of eyewitnesses said the boat was carrying 168 passengers, adding that rescue efforts were still going on.
A Marine Transporter at the Calabar Inland Waterways, Mr. Ikechukwu Egwu, also confirmed the incident.
He said the victims were mainly Igbo traders, who were heading for Gabon.
He said, “They are mostly Igbo traders, who went to Oron to board the wooden boat because it was cheaper.”
Our correspondent gathered that the corpses were deposited in UCTH Calabar instead of Malabo, where the accident occurred, because they were believed to be Nigerians.
Meanwhile, another eyewitness said other corpses had been deposited in Oron, Akwa Ibom State.
When contacted, the Information Officer in charge of the Eastern Naval Command, Lt. Cmdr. Way Olabisi, could not confirm the incident as he claimed that he was out of the state.
He, however, promised to get back to our correspondent as soon as he had information on the accident
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Can we save the society the pain of loosing so many lives at once by adhering to basic safety rules? Rickety wooden boat for a journey abroad. When shall we learn our lessons? This is a recurring decimal and ppl will still continue to travel by such boats and the mayhem shall still continue. Let such boats be outlawed for such long distance and with such number of passengers by the appropriate authority. Chikena!
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