By NATHAN NWAKAMMA

A wooden cargo boat, identified as ‘Godbless Dickson’, laden with cargo and over 64 passengers and crew exploded, burst into flames leaving 20 dead in Bayelsa waterways.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) learnt on Thursday that the tragic incident occurred on Wednesday along the Ezetu 1 community in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area (LGA) of Bayelsa.

ASP Musa Mohammed, the Police Spokesman in Bayelsa told NAN correspondent on telephone that 20 people have been so far confirmed dead, while rescue efforts by the Marine Police unit were still ongoing.

The ill-fated cargo boat laden with farm produce from the rural settlement was enroute Swali market in Yenagoa.

Mr Ogoniba Ipigansi, Chairman of the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria, Bayelsa Chapter, also confirmed the incident in a telephone interview with a NAN Correspondent on Thursday.

He said that a rescue team of the union, consisting of two speed boats, had been dispatched to the scene to assist the passengers on board.

He said that the exact number of casualties was yet to be ascertained, as rescue was still underway and several people on board yet to be accounted for.

A speed boat operator, Mr Augustine Amayoro, who participated in rescue efforts, said he rescued 10 persons from the scene, leaving other passengers stranded in the nearby fishing camp.

NAN gathered that the wooden cargo boats were exempted from the state government’s ban on night navigation on waterways.

Due to the slow pace of navigation, the cargo boats set sail a day ahead of the targeted weekly market days of Thursdays when farm produce flood the Swali waterside in Yenagoa.

Meanwhile, Chief Target Segibo, Chairman of Southern Ijaw LGA, who bemoaned the loss of 20 persons in the incident, described the disaster as regrettable.

He called for concerted efforts by stakeholders to strengthen safety regulations in the marine transport sector. (NAN)

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