No fewer than eight people have lost their lives in a boat mishap that occurred along Ikang axis of Bakassi Local Government Area of Cross River State.
The W23 speed boat conveying 13 Nigerian passengers to Cameron collided with another vessel equipped with a double Yamaha engine in Cameroonian territorial waters near Tikoro.
This incident was confirmed by the Police Public Relations Officer, Eitokpah Sunday Akata, in a statement made available to newsmen.
A man whose name was given simple as Oga Victor, his wife and about six others died from drowning, while five others were rescued with the help of local fishermen.
In a viral video, a man who revealed the identity of some of the victim’s, kept calling Oga Victor, Madam Victor, Ike, Ikenna, Soji, while he wailed in shock.
His words: “Victor, Oga Victor, Madam Victor, Ike, Ikenna, Soji, na die be this, na so death dey? Oh God what a life. How many people dead in a second, how many people.”
Others at the scene spoke their local dialect, as they expressed shock over the incident.
Meanwhile, another maritime incident also occurred on the Oron-Cameroon waterway when a blue W23 commercial speedboat named “Let’s Pray” was navigating the Ibaka waterways from Oron toward Cameroon.
The boat driver attempted to adjust the vessel’s seacock to drain accumulated water, when turbulent waves from a passing boat destabilized the vessel, causing it to flood and sink.
While some claimed that lives were lost in the incident, Official reports from the Akwa Ibom State Police command said zero fatalities.
The boat driver and his deckhand were said to be the only individuals on board the cargo-laden vessel, and both were successfully rescued by the Marine Police Operational and Surveillance Patrol Team.
