Two Children Who Drown on Okrika-Marine Base Waterway, Buried by River Bank

Besides the boat accident which claimed the life of tragic-hero, Joe Blankson, on July 28, 2018, there have been reports of about two separate accidents on the waterways in Rivers State.

One worthy of mention happened on Sunday, August 5, 2018 and took the lives of two children who were declared missing after the accident. Tragically, the children who were initially three in number are siblings. One of them was found not too long after the accident occurred on the Okrika-Marine Base waterway, rushed to the hospital and resuscitated. The other two were found on Tuesday, two days after the accident happened. Their distraught father, Henry Amamina said the children were buried by the river bank, stating that he couldn’t hold anyone responsible for their death because they are already gone. The girls, Destiny and Ngowari Amamina, six and four years old were on the boat with their mother and other sister. 

Mr Amamina claimed his daughters did not have on life jackets, but officials of the Okrika Speed Boat Owners Association on their part, claimed life jackets for children were acquired since January and are always available. Again it is left for the Police to carry out a proper investigation to ascertain these claims.

The officials also absolved the driver of the boat of any wrong doing and wide spread notion of recklessness on the part of boat drivers. He said the driver had gone to help passengers from another boat that had developed engine failure before the incident occurred. The police have since detained the driver of the boat, just as they did with the driver of the boat that ferried the late Joe Blankson. We await reports on the roles, if any, played by these drivers in the accidents.

Meanwhile, Spokesman for the Okrika Local Government Area, Dean Elliot, blamed the accident on the sloppiness of the boat helmsman and large vessels anchored along the Marine Base to Okrika water route. He confirmed that large boats, barges and other vessels owned by private companies have covered a large part of the waterways, making the route narrow compared to what it used to be. These are concerns that have also been raised by passengers of waterways in the state.

                               Some boat vessels as seen at Isaac Boro Park

One would imagine that the state which prides in its name, ‘Rivers State’, would boast of one of the best waterways in the country, but this is far from reality. Government has much on its hands, and once again, so those the Nigerian Police who should focus more on securing lives and property than mounting roadblocks to collect money from commercial drivers.