By PAMELA EBOH, Awka

Details have emerged about the unfortunate boat mishap in Ogbaru on Friday, October 7, 2022.

According to the Press Secretary to Anambra State Governor, Prof Charles Soludo, Christian Aburime, about 40 passengers were said to have boarded the ill-fated boat before it set sail.

He said: “The engine of the boat was said to have failed three minutes into the journey and the surging waves hit the boat on a collapsed bridge and it subsequently capsized.”

The government spokesperson said that more than 30 people were rescued by expert swimmers while six people, including two kids, and two ladies were confirmed dead.

He said the update became necessary to avoid unfounded speculations and undue sensationalisation of the unfortunate incident.

Meanwhile, the Transition Committee Chairman of the local government area, Paschal Aniegbunam, has said that over 30 persons had been rescued in the mishap.

Speaking with journalists at Okoti Odekpe community in Ogbaru on Sunday, Aniegbunam maintained that the figures released on the boat mishap were fallacious, saying that he was not contacted for his position concerning the unfortunate incident.

He said the boat mishap was not as a result of flood as widely published but man-made error.

According to him, the boat rider was not available to ferry the passengers to the market and his inexperienced brother decided to take the place of his brother and couldn’t handle the fault developed by the rail few minutes after it set sail.

He said: “The speed boat involved in the mishap could not contain up to 50 passengers and the incident was not as a result of the flood but a human error which occurred because the boat rider was inexperienced and unable to control the boat which developed electrical fault few minutes after it set sail.

“The boat owner who used it to ferry people was not available when passengers thronged demanding that his brother should carry them in the boat.

“Fate failed them when the boat engine developed a fault and the young lad who tried effortlessly to start the engine could not control the waves which pushed the boat and it hit Osamala bridge and capsized.

“The young man driving the boat was not the main person. The guy said he was not even ready to drive the boat that day; that it was his senior brother that drives the boat.

“On that fateful day, his brother was not around and the passengers who were so large in number persuaded him and he decided to carry them.

“Not quite three minutes after they took off, the engine developed a fault and because he is not conversant with it, he tried to start the engine and there were not enough paddles for them to navigate to the ground.

“It was when he was dragging the engine to start, the current was drawing them back. It was the current that pushed the boat and it hit the already submerged Osamala bridge and capsized. It was people who were standing on the road that jumped into the water to do the rescue.

“The mishap was not a result of the flood. Over thirty persons have so far been rescued while the search continues.”

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