A Cameroon Bound Nigerian Boat Sinks: Two Feared Dead, Many Missing And Goods Lost.
By Ebor Cletus Ralph Jr.
A Cameroon Bound Nigerian Boat Sinks: Two Feared Dead, Many Missing And Goods Lost.
Tragedy struck on Tuesday night when a Cameroon-bound Nigerian commercial boat which left the shores of Calabar, Cross River State, with about 25 passengers and multi-million naira worth of goods on board capsised on the high sea between Nigeria and Cameroon.
According to credible sources close to TrendyNews, the boat reportedly left its base off Marina Road in Calabar by the shorelines on Tuesday morning but the incident happened late in the night during high tidal waves on the high sea near the Cameroon waterways.
Police spokesman in Cross River State, SP Irene Ugbo, confirmed that, the incident had been reported to the Marine Police Department and that two dead bodies had been discovered, with five survivors brought back to the Calabar base. A number of other passengers according to the PPRO are missing.
A businessman whose goods were in the boat, also confirmed the incident saying that about 25 persons including passengers, the boat crew and others were in the boat when they left the ports.
Mr. Samuel Chukwuemeka who is one of the major distributors for Molfix diapers in Nigeria, said his multi-million naira worth of goods were loaded in the boat which had other loads of goods such as wine and beverages; all sank in with the boat and perished.
Chukwuemeka said he was informed of the incident on Wednesday and none of his goods could be rescued.
By his account of the incident, he said the cause of the incident was the turbulent wave and not overloading.
He said his goods in the boat were for his customers in Cameroon. “It was late at night, going into Wednesday morning that I got a call that the boat had issues on the way.
“The person didn’t tell me what the actual issue was. It was until Wednesday morning that I got the information that the boat sank and all the goods and passengers could not be found.
He said as at Thursday evening, he learnt two dead bodies had been recovered and five persons rescued but others were still missing.
