At least 16 people, including a 56-year-old man, have died in two different incidents that occurred in Lagos on Sallah day.
Ibrahim Farinloye, the public relations officer of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) in the South West, said the Sallah day tragedy involved two vehicles; a Lexus and a Toyota car with three occupants following a heavy downpour.
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Both vehicles got swept away by a heavy flood into an uncompleted drainage along Fatoki Street, Orile Agege.
Two persons died in the incident while four others were rescued by residents and government officials.
Farinloye said two of the occupants of the vehicles that got swept away by flood were still missing as at press time on Saturday.
It was learnt that the drivers of both vehicles were told by some residents not to drive through the flooded area, but they refused and drove straight into the running water.
The second incident involved a commercial boat which took off from Mile 2 and was heading to Ibeshe with 16 people onboard when it capsized around 7.45pm on Friday night.
Already, two dead bodies from the ill-fated boat, a 56-year-old man and a young woman of about 20 years have since been recovered by policemen attached to the marine police, while search is still ongoing for the other missing passengers.
The latest incident was not known until Saturday morning, thus, narrowing the chances of any survival.
The operators of the boat were said to have violated the safety rules by operating beyond the approved time for commercial boat operation in Lagos.
A statement by the Lagos area manager of the National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA), Sarat Braimah, an engineer, revealed that 16 passengers were onboard the ill-fated boat as at the time of the incident and that all of them were yet to be accounted for.
It is said that all the passengers on board, including children, were not putting on life jackets.
“The search and rescue team of the Lagos State Waterways Authority (LASWA) and the NIWA were immediately mobilised to the scene of the incident, but unfortunately, they could only find the boat after several hours. Efforts are still ongoing to locate the victims.
“The boat is currently in the custody of the marine police. The boat captain is also unaccounted for as at the time of this press release,” she stated.
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