NIWA confirms 12 children drown in Kwara boat mishap

The National Inland Waterways Authority yesterday confirmed that 12 children drowned and two other persons were rescued in the weekend’s boat mishap at Lafiagi, Kwara State.

A statement by the General Manager, Corporate Affairs of NIWA, Tayo Fadile, said search and rescue operation were still ongoing by a team of NIWA marine police, fire service and local divers.

He noted that NIWA’s Area Manager, Surv. Abubakar M. Wathanafa, who visited the scene, attributed its cause to failure to adhere to NIWA safety guidelines which includes overloading of the boat, using dilapidated and old boat and failure to use life jackets by the passengers.

While commiserating with government and people of Kwara State over the incident, he appealed to the general public especially river users to strictly adhere to NIWA safety guidelines.

“The present management is working hard to ensure that such unfortunate incidents are reduced to the barest minimum. NIWA will continue to encourage boat users to use modern and safe water transportation mode on our waterways”, he said.

Meanwhile, one out of the 18 victims involved in the mishap is yet to be found It was gathered that the rescue operation continued yesterday as four out of the 18 victims, including the driver, survived the accident while one of the victims earlier rescued later died in the hospitals.

One of the survivors, who said that she noticed water coming inside the boat, blamed the mishap on overloading.