Eleven people including four children and a grandchild of a couple have lost their lives in a boat mishap in Rivers State.
The accident happened on Monday when a wooden boat from Ngo, the headquarters of the Andoni Local Government Area, to Bonny capsized on the Bonny river after a turbulent wave.
The relatives were among the twenty five passengers on board the boat.
They were traveling together with their parents who incidentally were the owners of the boat.
Their parents Mr. Ayayi Festus and Mrs Rose Festus, however, survived the incident.
They were among the 14 passengers that were rescued by local responders.
Meanwhile, Governor Siminalayi Fubara has condoled with the families of the deceased.
The Governor in a statement by his media aide, Boniface Onyedi, assured that his administration will continue to work to ensure that traveling on the sea routes becomes safer.
“I commiserate and condole with families of the victims of the boat accident that led to the loss of lives, and near death experienced by our brothers and sisters that were involved in the boat mishap.
“It is indeed a very unfortunate and sad incident and we pray that, God shall give all of them the strength to bear the loss and speedy recovery to those who survived.
“As a government, we will continue to work to ensure that such threats against safe traveling on our sea routes are tackled,” the statement read.
