Less than five minutes after a canoe
laden with ten passengers pulled out of
its dock at Apapa, Lagos on its way to
Sagbokoji Island around 8am
penultimate Tuesday, it was swallowed
by a massive wave.
The boat went under and only eight
people came back up.
When Saturday PUNCH visited
Sagbokoji, a fishing community, about 10
minutes from Apapa, on Wednesday,
the villagers said that the mishap was
caused by a small ship that had also
pulled out of its dock close to where the
canoe was.
A boat operator, who ferried our
correspondent to the community,
pointed out the point where the canoe
went under. It was close to a dock that
had been constructed by an oil company
to berth ships in the area.
“We have not recovered two bodies.
Maybe they will come up with the wave
later in the week,” the young operator,
who identified himself as Kingsley, said.
According to his account, his boat was
berthed at Sagbokoji’s dock as he
prepared to commence the day’s work
on Tuesday when the mishap occurred.
Kingsley said, “Anytime a big ship
passes by this area, it is always a
trouble for smaller boats like ours,
especially if it is speeding. The more a
ship speeds, the more it generates
waves.
“As the ship left its dock, the boat
which was already on its way to our
village was caught in the big wave that
the passing ship created. It turned over
and many of the passengers came up.
“We are not allowed to take more than
10 passengers. So, there is no doubt
that there were 10 passengers in the
ship. We saw the people in the boat in
the water. We knew what happened
immediately and had to put our boats in
the water and sped over to rescue the
passengers who were shouting in the
water.”
Saturday PUNCH observed that the
distance between the dock where the
boat took off and Sagbokoji was so short
that villagers could see the boats
berthed there.
But the boat operators, who effected
the rescue, said even though the
distance was short, they could not
succeed in rescuing all the victims as
some of them had drowned.
A boat operator also told Saturday
PUNCH that most of the victims floated
because of their life jackets.
He said, “Boat operators were just
coming out for business at the time.
The people in the boat that capsized
were traders going to Sagbokoji for their
daily business.
“There were some young children in the
boat. But I remember that we brought
out a young girl. I am not sure whether
the ones that drowned were also
children.
“Most of us operators can swim. When
we got to where the passengers were
floating in the water, we jumped in and
brought them into our boats and took
them ashore. We brought out about
eight of them. They later left by
themselves.”
When Saturday PUNCH spoke to the
Village Head of Sagbokoji, Chief Anthony
Ovime, he also affirmed that the victims
were traders who came to the
community to engage in petty trading.
“Some of them come to sell bread,
condiments and other things that the
villagers may not be able to access
unless they cross the water to Apapa.
“A boat mishap like this is strange in the
community. Why I am surprised that
some of the victims died is that every
boat operator here ensures that their
passengers use life jackets.
“I think their death might have to do
with the fact that the massive waves
generated by the ship incapacitated
them.”
But if the waves are massive and they
used life jacket, were they not supposed
to have floated, Saturday PUNCH asked.
A community leader in Sagbokoji, Mr.
Bernard Williams, later offered an
explanation, saying the quality of the
life jacket might have contributed to the
victims drowning.
Williams said, “The use of life jackets is
enforced here very well. You can verify
for yourself. We ensure that boat
operators have enough life jackets in
their boats and they are not allowed to
pick more than 10 passengers.
“But the problem is that the quality of
the life jackets may be why the missing
victims did not float like the rest.”
Asked if he knew any of the rescued
victims of the mishap in Sagbokoji,
William explained that the only victim
who resided in the community was a
Hausa man who had left with his
relations on Tuesday.
“I think he must have been coming from
his security guard work that morning.
But I heard he left with some of his
relations who came for him yesterday
(Tuesday).
On the journey to and fro Sagbokoji, our
correspondent was offered life jackets.
The operators said they don’t make the
jackets. They buy them from a company
which makes them in Apapa and assume
the quality is good.
Those who witnessed the mishap could
not provide a concrete description of
the ship which caused the wave that
made the boat to capsize.
How a small boat could be swallowed by
waves generated by a ship was
immediately evident on the return trip
as waves rocked the boat violently
anytime a yacht passed by.
Ovime and Williams, who were with our
correspondent in the boat, said they
were used to the waves but warned
that there was need for passing vessels
to be mindful of the lives of those in
smaller boats close by.
Williams said, “I am a sailor as well and
anytime I am in a ferry, I use the radio
to communicate with passing vessels to
slow down. Many of them speed even
though there are smaller boats around.
This is not supposed to be because they
endanger the lives of passengers.
“Water transport is the only means by
which we can get to our homes. If the
government cares about us and put a
couple of standard ferries here to
operate, why would we be afraid when a
ship passes by because we are in a
boat?”
Saturday PUNCH observed that there
was no ongoing search for the remains
of the missing victims, the operators
said they were waiting for the bodies to
float.
Williams informed our correspondent
two days later (Thursday) that the body
of a girl of about estimated to be about
10 years old had been found floating in
the water.
The punch.
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