Survivors Says The Boat Develop Fault Twice Before It Capsized.

One of the survivors of the Ikorodu boat accident, Seun Adebanjo, 26, says the ill-fated ferry which killed five of the passengers,

developed fault two different times on water before it eventually capsized.

Adebanjo, who spoke with our correspondent on Sunday, said she would not have boarded the boat if she had heeded the advice of a friend who warned her not to board it.

Our correspondent had reported on Sunday that five people died, while many others were hospitalised after a commercial boat capsized in the Bayeku, Igbogbo, Ikorodu area of Lagos State.

Officials of the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency, Lagos State Waterways Authority, with the support of local divers, were said to have rescued the victims from the waters.

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PUNCH Metro learnt that the survivors had been discharged after they were certified fit by doctors at the Ikorodu General Hospital.

Adebanjo, a survivor, said the boat developed fault two different times and left them in fear.

She said, “I was going to Ikorodu that morning and I decided to take a boat. A friend, however, warned me not to go on a boat, but I ignored him because of the traffic on the Lagos Island.

“We took off from Oke Ira Nla Jetty on the Island and five minutes into the journey, the boat had a fault and the captain fixed it with his assistant who was at the back.

“After some time, we continued with the journey; in less than two minutes, the problem re-surfaced. Again they fixed it.

“A few minutes after, the boat had another fault and before we knew it, it capsized.”

Adebanjo, an undergraduate of Social Works, University of Ibadan, said the life jackets they were given were ineffectual.

She said they sunk, adding that the intervention of the fishermen saved the day.

“The life jackets did not help at all. We were screaming for help as we began to drown.

“I should have known that the boat was not good because before we entered, the captain and his assistant were sleeping in it.

“Maybe they also knew it was not in good condition,” she added.

Source: Punch Newspaper