… Police arrest boat Driver Whereabouts of 2 missing infants still unknown Three days after Boat Mishap
Daniel Efe/Port Harcourt
A team of Local Divers few hours ago recovered the lifeless bodies of the two missing female infants identified as Little Miss Destiny Amamina and Miss Ngowari Amamina whose whereabouts were unknown up till in the early hours of today.
Information reaching our Correspondent from Okrika, headquarters of Okrika local Government area of Rivers state confirm that the lifeless bodies were recovered in the creeks by a team of local Divers.
The Chairman of the Okrika local Government Council, Philemon Iwoloma Kingoli Confirmed the recovery of the lifeless bodies after three days of intensive search.
According to the Okrika Council boss, “As I speak to you we about burying them. And as Council, we have instituted and inquiry into what led to the accident. We’ll not condone act of recklessness on the part of boat users in our waterways again. Strict marine transportation safety must be adhered to by Boat operators and their passengers”
Three days after the boat mishap whereabouts of the two missing female infants identified as Little Miss Destiny Amamina and Miss Ngowari Amamina of the same parents in the ill-fated boat mishap on Okrika creeks on Sunday is still unknown.
For the past three days a combined team of the Marine Police, Divers and Naval personnel are combing the nooks and crannies of waterways in the search of the bodies of the missing girls since on Sunday.
The Spokesman of the Rivers Police Command, DSP Nnamdi Omoni, said the search is leading to the combing of the nooks and crannies of the creeks and waterways after the boat mishap that had 24 passengers on board. Out of which 22 were rescued.
“We have intensified the search for them to make sure that their bodies are recovered dead or alive”
He also said that the boat driver of the capsized boat has been arrested and in the custody of the Police and helping in the investigation on the cause of the accident.
“We want to find out the culpability or otherwise of the Driver of the ill-fated boat. We want to know if there was negligence on his part in obedience of maritime safety rules and regulations”.
Meanwhile, the Assistant Secretary of the Okrika Boat Operators, Tamuno Wakama, harp on the need of strict obedience safety rules in all waterways in Rivers state.
“We still searching for the missing little girls. We have not found them. This kind of accident has not happened before because we take safety precautions seriously. You can see my life jackets. They are very new. We hope that this painful incident will not happen again although we are not God”, Wakama said.
The Lawmaker representing Port Harcourt Constituency One, Victoria Nyeche, called on the Rivers State Government to clean up the waterways of debris that have become the source of frequent boat mishaps.
She called on the Rivers State Government to regulate the operations of boat.
Ijaw youth Council worldwide through its Spokesman, Daniel Desimaka has called on the state government set up an inquest into the frequency of boat accidents, especially the one the occurred in Bakana and Okrika waterways. Within one week, two passenger boats have capsized claiming three lives.