Pregnant woman, corps member, 5 others drown in Bayelsa boat crash

A0n unidentified female member of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), a pregnant woman and five other passengers are feared dead in a boat mishap in Bayelsa. The accident happened Saturday afternoon between Otuan and Ayama communities in the Southern Ijaw Local Government Area of the state. Pirates abduct 8 passengers on Bayelsa waterway ‘Oil […]

A0n unidentified female member of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), a pregnant woman and five other passengers are feared dead in a boat mishap in Bayelsa.

The accident happened Saturday afternoon between Otuan and Ayama communities in the Southern Ijaw Local Government Area of the state.

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Reports said the boat, which has a capacity for 15 passengers, rammed into a barrier in the waters and sank while approaching Ayama to berth, amidst a heavy rainstorm.

 Also among the victims are a mother with her two kids and a 70-year-old Otuan chief and father to a Bayelsa-based journalist, Chief Lucky Daniels. 

Daily Trust gathered that the boat and the corpses of the victims were still missing as of the time of filing this report while local divers were on a search and rescue operation along the Ayama community coastline.

The Chairman of the maritime union in Otuan, Joseph Shedrack, said that the boat driver, Lucky Christopher, who survived the accident, had been detained by the police for alleged reckless driving.

 The state Chairman of the Maritime Union, Ipigansi Ogoniba, said six persons were still missing.

 On the identity of the corps member involved in the boat disaster, Ogoniba said the authorities of the NYSC had been contacted.

 The Public Relations Officer of the NYSC in the state, Mathew Ngobua, did not pick up his calls and had yet to reply to a text message sent to him as of the time of filing this report.

 Police spokesman in the state, SP Asinim Butswat, who confirmed the incident, said they were still waiting for more information to get the identity of the victims.