Lafia canoe mishap: How 7 persons died
Passengers, eager to reach home on time, neglected caution on an overloaded canoe only to capsize midstream leading to death and misery.
The peaceful farming and fishing community of Gwayaka was thrown into mourning when seven seasonal farm labourers lost their lives when the canoe they were travelling in while returning from the day’s work capsized.
Gwayaka, about 30 kilometres from Lafia, the state capital, is under Ashige Ward in Lafia-East Development Area of Lafia Local Government of Nasarawa State. The community prides itself of skilled farmers and fishermen.
The present incident at Gwayaka river occurred a year after four persons died in similar circumstances in Ashangwa, in the same Lafia East Development Area of the state.
A witness, Shuaibu Ahmadu told Daily Trust Saturday that the victims were seasonal irrigation farmers from Kano State. “They were returning from the farms in the evening at about 6 pm when the incident occurred,” he said.
He said the canoe paddler, Jibrin Haruna, is a very responsible person and was aware of the directive by the custodian of the river in local parlance called Sarkin Ruwa, Yahaya Musa’s order that no canoe should carry more than its capacity of twenty passengers.
Haruna was said to have counted the passengers on board and they were more than twenty. Corroborating the matter, Shuaibu Ahmadu said Haruna insisted that he will not paddle the canoe, alight and came to the bank of the river, saying he will ferry twenty and return to take the others on two trips.
But, it was claimed that one of the passengers attempted to either paddle or alight and the canoe capsized.
When Daily Trust Saturday sort the views of Haruna, he was still in shock days after the incident. He uttered a few words: “People should always consider their safety first and reduce been in a haste and engaging in unnecessary arguments.”
The Sarkin Ruwa, Yahaya Musa said, the canoe was overloaded with over twenty passengers and the peddler complained, pleading with them to allow him to make two trips. However, the passengers, who were eager to cross the river, were adamant.
He said the peddler, out of anger, abandoned the canoe, then one of the passengers started peddling it across the river. Suddenly, the canoe capsized in the middle of the river in which seven of them were discovered missing while others came out alive.
Musa said they recovered six out of the drowned seven victims in Bakin Kogo near the boundary of Nasarawa and Plateau states, about two kilometres away. “We have contacted the villages along the river bank to keep watch of the remaining missing dead person,” he explained.
According to him, the six have been buried according to Islamic injunctions.
The Councillor of Ashige ward, Yakubu Ibrahim Ali said the victims were: Sidi Haruna, Abdurrahim Uba, Gambo Usman, Muhammadu Miko, Abdussalam Usman, Sanusi and Awwal.
The overseer of Lafia East Development Area, Shuaibu Dahiru Zanwa said efforts were in top gear to recover the remaining body.
He said a security meeting with the communities along the river bank, including district and village heads was held to take measures against further recurrence of such unfortunate incident.
Similarly, the chairman of Lafia Local Government, Alhaji Aminu Muazu Maifata expressed displeasure over the incident and appealed to people to avoid taking unnecessary risks that might endanger their lives and lead to the loss of life and property.