Metro

Conflicting Figures Trail Anambra Boat Mishap

Published

2 years ago

October 9, 2022

Editor

Conflicting figures are surrounding the number of dead bodies and recovered persons at the scene of a boat crash that occured at the Umunankwo community in Ogbaru Local Government Area of Anambra State, on Friday.

While the Anambra State Government through a statement from the governor’s press secretary, Christian Aburime, late on Saturday, indicated that more 30 people had been rescued while six people including two kids and two ladies were confirmed dead, the former Transition Committee Chairman of Ogbaru Local Government Area, Arinze Awogu, gave the figures of recovered dead bodies as 13, adding that before the end of the day, more bodies would be recovered.

Again, an indigene of the area, identified as Eze Ogbugbulu, said 16 bodies had been recovered, including children.

The statement from the governor’s press secretary with the caption, ‘Update on the Ogbaru boat mishap’, said the engine of the boat failed three minutes into the journey and the surging waves hit the boat on a collapsed bridge and it subsequently capsized.

It reads, “The following are more facts emanating from the unfortunate boat mishap in Ogbaru.

READ ALSO: Flood: Many Feared Dead As Church Building Collapses During Service In Anambra
“About 40 passengers were said to have boarded the ill-fated boat. The engine of the boat was said to have failed three minutes into the journey and the surging waves hit the boat on a collapsed bridge and it subsequently capsized.

“More than 30 people were rescued by expert swimmers. Six people including two kids and two ladies were confirmed dead. The above update have become necessary to avoid unfounded speculations and undue sensationalisation of the unfortunate incident.”

The Zonal Coordinator of the National Emergency Management Authority, South-East, Mr Thickman Tanimu, had told journalists on Saturday that 85 people were in the ill-fated boat.

Tanimu had said, “What I suspected happened on Friday at Ogbaru, Anambra, going by the report we received from the State Emergency Management Agency, is that the water kept rising and the people were trapped.

“They decided to escape the rising water and 85 of them jam-packed inside the boat which capsized due to the rising flood. It is very unfortunate because the flood has covered many houses up to roof level.

“Out of the 85 persons, nine were found and the remaining 76 are no where to be found. Also at Uzo-Uwani Local Government Area in Enugu, two men and a pregnant woman died in the flood.”

Another source in the area told journalists that the speed boat involved in the mishap could not contain 50 passengers and that the incident was not a result of the flood but a human error.

He said the boat rider was inexperienced and unable to control the boat which he said developed electrical fault few minutes after it set sail.

“The boat owner who used it to ferry people was not available when passengers thronged demanding that his brother should carry them in the boat. But fate failed them when the boat engine developed a fault and the young lad who tried effortlessly to start the engine could not control the waves which pushed the boat and it hit Osamala bridge and capsized,” the source said.

PUNCH

Metro

JUST IN: Truck Rams Into BRT On Lagos-Ibadan Expressway

Published

3 hours ago

May 18, 2024

Editor

A truck has rammed into a Lagos State BRT bus at Ibafo bus-stop along the Lagos Ibadan Expressway.

The PUNCH correspondent who went to the scene gathered that the accident occurred around some minutes to 6am on Saturday.

Officials of the Federal Road Safety Corps and Police on response call at the accident scene insisted that only their Public Relations Officers were authorised to speak.

However, unconfirmed reports from onlookers noted that several people on the BRT bus were injured.

Onlookers accounts noted that the BRT was parked loading its passengers at the bus stop before the truck loaded with cows heading to Lagos rammed into it, taking it off the road to destroy shops and kiosks by the roadside.

The cow truck had been towed a little away from the scene so as not to hinder traffic.

Details later

Metro

Court Jails Social Media Influencer For Celebrity Scam

Published

12 hours ago

May 18, 2024

Editor

A Federal High Court in Ikoyi, has sentenced Aluko Tunmise to one year in prison for his involvement in a celebrity scam.

Tunmise was prosecuted by the Lagos Zonal Command of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on a cybercrime-related charge.

This was disclosed in a post on X by EFCC on Friday, May 17.

The post reads: “Justice Chukwujekwu Aneke of the Federal High Court sitting in Ikoyi, Lagos, on Wednesday, May 15, 2024, convicted and sentenced one Aluko Tunmise, a self-acclaimed social media influencer and model, to one year imprisonment for celebrity scam.

He was arraigned by the Lagos Zonal Command of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on a one-count charge bordering on cybercrimes.”

“One of the counts reads: “That you, ALUKO TUNMISE JUWONLO (A.K.A. KEANU REEVES), sometime between January and March, 2024 in Lagos, within the jurisdiction of this Honorable Court, directly made a false statement, wherein you held yourself out as a white man by name “KEANU REEVES” on your Telegram Account, knowing same to be false and with intent that the representation is relied upon for the purpose of procuring the issuance of financial instrument to yourself and thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under Section 22(3) of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention etc) Act, 2015′.

He pleaded ‘guilty’ to the charge when it was read to him.

Following his guilty plea, prosecution counsel, C.C.Okezie, sought to present an operative of the EFCC, Vincent Sunday Kwambuge, to review the facts of the matter.

Kwanbuge told the court that the defendant was arrested sometime in March, 2024 at Lekki County Estate, Lagos, following credible intelligence received by the Commission on the activities of some internet fraudsters operating in the area.”

Metro

Three Children Rescued As Fire Guts Storey Building In Delta

Published

13 hours ago

May 17, 2024

Editor

Three children have been rescued as fire gutted a-storey building at the Obi Onuorah Crescent back of Okowe plaza in Asaba, the Delta State capital.

The PUNCH correspondent who visited the fire scene on Friday, observed that the roof and the two apartments were razed down as property worth millions of naira was damaged.

However, the cause of the fire was yet to be ascertained as at the time of filling this report

Speaking, a widow and mother of four children, Mrs Gloria Sado who wept profusely appealed to Nigerians to come to her aid.

She said, “I came back Thursday night around 9 pm when I saw a fire burning in our house.

“My three children were in the house, one went with me to market, thank God, it was a lot of effort for my children to be rescued. I didn’t know the cause of the fire

“All the three fire services that came did not have water to quench the fire, our property was burnt to ashes”

Also, her neighbor, Simon Amalimen, and father of two said, “I was in my apartment when I heard fire, fire, I came out and noticed that the fire was coming out from my neighbor’s apartment.

“When learned that the three children were inside the apartment sleeping, we immediately moved into the fire to rescue the children, then, the fire had to gut my apartment.

“Before we could rescue them, the fire had entered my apartment and my two children and my wife were rescued. Only the boxers I wear are the clothes I came out with.”

He said before the third fire service could arrive, the two apartments and property had been burnt.

The victims were currently homeless as sympathizers were said to have gone to buy some clothes for them.

An official of the state fire service who did not want his name mentioned confirmed the incident.