30 feared dead in Rivers boat accident

NO fewer than 30 persons were, late on Tuesday, feared dead in a boat accident, which happened at Chiogbonna Waterfront, around Rumuolumeni area of Obio/Akpor Local Government Area of Rivers State.
Nigerian Tribune gathered that the accident occurred when a local transport boat, believed to have been overloaded with 40 persons, capsized midstream, throwing all passengers overboard, most of who were believed to have died by Wednesday afternoon, when rescue efforts were still on.
At the time of filing this report, about 11 corpses had been recovered while four persons were said to have been rescued on Tuesday night.
The cause of the accident has not been disclosed, but officials and community sources said it was as a result of overloading of the boat, which was said to be carrying mostly market women, who were returning home with their merchandise.
Confirming the incident, the South-South zonal coordinator of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Umesi Emenike, said the boat was believed to have capsized at about 11.30 p.m., adding that the number of persons on board had been put at between 40 and 50.
He said efforts were still on with other aid agencies to rescue possible survivors and to retrieve more corpses, as the case may be, as according to him, 10 passengers had been rescued already.
The NEMA boss, however, regretted that the accident was so fatal because it occurred at night, adding that the absence of a State Emergency Management Agency had hindered effective response to the situation.