Barely a month after a ferry passenger boat capsized in Lagos Island enroute Ikorodu, another boat with 17 passengers on board has capsized on Saturday.
The incident reportedly occured 20 minutes after the privately owned boat identified as GT Water Line 4 took off at Ebute-Ero enroute Ikorodu Terminal at about 5.15pm.
The Lagos State Waterways Authority LASWA, who confirmed this in a statement signed by its General Manager, Oluwadamilola Emmanuel said the boat left Ebute-Ero at about 5.15pm with 17 passengers onboard including 14 males and 3 females.
He said LASWA Patrol team and some other boat operators were swift to respond to the distress call from the boat thereby rescuing all 17 passengers onboard including 2 minors. He said, “apparently all passengers were wearing live jackets which aided the safe rescue of all onboard.
“The boat and it’s captain have been taken to custody for further investigation to unravel the cause of the accident and necessary actions.
“To forestall a recurrence of such incident, LASWA has once again warned all boat operators to always adhere strictly to safety measures while advising all waterways users to ensure the use of life jackets at all time when boarding a boat.” He added.