The motorised boat which crushed the canoe
conveying some pupils in Irewe, Ojo, Lagos
State, killing six of them, was carrying stolen
fuel, PUNCH Metro has learnt.

The traditional ruler of the area, Osolo of
Irewe, Oba Abduldeen Durosimi, told our
correspondent at his palace on Thursday that
the schoolchildren were victims of illegal oil
bunkering going on at the Takwa Bay area.

On Wednesday, some 14 schoolchildren who
were in a canoe en route to their schools in
Irewe fell into a river after the motorised boat
crashed into their canoe.

While eight of the children were rescued alive,
six of them drowned.
The victims were identified as Jonathan
Fiankyu, Nelson Fiankyu, Josephine Ajigbo,
Patience Ajigbo, Imonina Briget and Kayode
Nathaniel.

It was learnt that while three of the victims
attended Osolo High School, the remaining
three attended LA Primary School, Irewe.
When our correspondent visited the
community on Thursday, he met the
community leader, Durosimi.

He said, “There are 37 villages surrounding
me. There are eight primary schools, but there
is only one secondary school. There are about
three islands that surround us here.

“The incident happened yesterday (Wednesday)
when the schoolchildren were going to their
schools. We have been warning the villagers
against illegal oil bunkering. But some of them
will not hear.

“It was one of them that was carrying fuel
from Takwa Bay that crushed the children’s
canoe, damaging the hull. But we thank God
that not all of them died. Some survived.”

The traditional ruler appealed to the
government to build boarding schools in the
community to reduce the risks of children
taking canoes everyday to get to school.
PUNCH Metro gathered that in the course of
investigations, the suspected vandal was
identified as one Folly.

It was learnt from residents that the person
that paddled the children’s canoe also had his
ears blocked with an earpiece. He was said to
be listening to music.

A resident said the children saw the fibre boat
approaching and raised the alarm, but the
man was distracted.

He said, “The man that paddled that canoe
had his ears blocked. He was listening to
music and that was why he didn’t see the
boat.

“By the time he knew, it was already too late.
The boat broke the side. The children fell into
the water, while the canoe sank.”

A classmate of Patience and Josephine who
were both children of the same parents,
Mojeed Rokibat, said their teachers did not
initially believe the news.
She said, “One of those that survived, Michael,
came into the class and told our teachers their
canoe had capsized.

“But they did not believe him. Then another
person came and said the same thing and that
was when everybody started to run helter-
skelter.”

Another classmate, Lamidi Shukura, explained
that one of the victims, Josephine, had danced
during a recent event.

“Josephine danced well during a party to send
off our JSS3 pupils. One of us asked her to
stop, but she said, ‘Please let me dance well. I
don’t know when I will have the chance to
dance another one.’”

Our correspondent was told that while one of
the children came from Egira village, four were
from Okunfeiyiku village. Another came from
Olomometa village.
However, villagers in Irewe community, where
all the victims attended their schools, were
stranded on Thursday.

They could not connect to the three villages
because there was no canoe to take them.

A resident said, “The man that usually paddles
the canoe was the one that was involved in the
accident.”
Lagos recovers bodies, to distribute life
jackets

The Lagos State Government says the bodies
of six children who drowned in Wednesday’s
boat accident in the Ojo area of Lagos, have
been recovered.

At a news conference in Alausa, Ikeja, on
Thursday, the Managing Director, Lagos State
Waterways Authority, Yinka Marinho, said
three of the bodies were recovered on
Wednesday, while three were recovered on
Thursday.

He said, “Eight of the 14 children survived the
tragedy, but six died.

“What happened was that a motorised boat
rammed into a canoe carrying the children to
school.

“The captain of the motorised boat had been
arrested and detained at the Railway Police
Station.

“It was observed that the passengers in the
boat were not wearing life jackets despite the
fact that the government had distributed 3,500
life jackets to boat operators.”

The LASWA boss stated that in the next few
weeks, 2,400 new life jackets would be
distributed to boat operators.

He added that there were plans to distributed
another set of 1,800 for the use of
schoolchildren in riverine areas.

He said, “We are going to comb the nooks and
crannies of our riverine areas to take a census
of schoolchildren to know the number of life
jackets to be provided for them.”

The General Manager, Lagos State Emergency
Management Agency, Dr. Femi Oke-
Osanyintolu appealed to those using the
waterways to always put on life jackets.
Director General, Lagos Safety Commission,
Odebunmi Dominga, said the government
would enforce the law and ensure that people
using the waterways always wore life jackets.

Source: www.punchng.com/metro-plus/how-oil-vandals-boat-killed-six-lagos-children/

So bad

ohhh