Monarch sheds light on Lagos Boat accident that killed 17 members of one family

The Ovori of Ibeshe, Oba Alani Gausu has attributed the fatal boat mishap that killed 17 passengers in Lagos to human error.

The victims were from the Sumola Aniajogun family of Ibeshe in the Mile 2 area of Lagos recently.

The monarch made this known on Wednesday when delegation from the Lagos Area office of the National Inland Water Ways (NIWA) visited him in his palace on Wednesday.

Oba Alani Gausu implored the regulators to carry out more training for boat skippers to ensure such avoidable incidents are not repeated.

According to the Ibeshe monarch, “The boat tragedy that resulted in the death of 17 boat passengers last Friday was down to human error.

“The boat driver failed to do what he ought to have done before loading passengers on the boat and pushing the boat into water. How can a boat driver load passengers on a boat, push the boat into the water before checking if he has the correct mixture of engine oil in the boat engine?

“Due to this error from the boat driver, the tide pushed the fully loaded boat underneath a barge and the entire passengers, including the boat driver, drowned.

NIWA also revealed that the jetty where the ill-fated boat departed last Friday had been closed down since last year June.