Many injured as ‘military jet’ shoots cargo boat in Rivers

An unspecified number of people were injured when jet suspected to belong to the military shot a cargo boat conveying foodstuffs and other edible items from Port Harcourt to Bonny Island.

An eyewitness said the incident occurred along Okrika Dutch/Bonny Island on Thursday.

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“The incident happened yesterday (Thursday) at about 1.00 pm. It was not hidden people saw it.”

“A cargo boat conveying foodstuffs such as garri, rice, yam and other edible food items from Port Harcourt to Bonny and on getting to Okrika Dutch Island en route Bonny, a jet suspected to belong the military came down and opened fire on the cargo boat that had some passengers on it. Many people were injured,” he said.

The eyewitness, who pleaded anonymity, said those injured were taken to an undisclosed hospital in Okrika.

When contacted, the DPO in charge of Bonny Island Marine Police, SP Solomon Adeniyi, said that he lacks the authority to comment on the matter.

He said the State Police Command’s Public Relation Officer, SP Nnamdi Omoni, will address a press conference on the incident.

Efforts made by our reporter to speak with the State Police Command’s Public Relation Officer on the matter proved abortive as he did not pick his calls.

He also did not reply to the text message sent to him on the matter.

The Commanding Officer of the Nigerian Navy Forward Operating Base in Bonny, Commander Rafiu Oladejo, said he heard about the incident but said it did not happen in Bonny Island.

Both the 6 Division of the Nigerian Army, Port Harcourt’s Public Relation Officer and that of the 115 Special Operation Group of the Nigerian Air Force, Port Harcourt, could not be reached for comment.