166 KILLED IN BOAT MISHAP OFF CALABAR COAST

No fewer than 166 passengers were on Tuesday reported dead in a boat mishap about 40 nautical miles off the coast of Calabar.

Eyewitnesses told newsmen that the passengers were travelling in a “giant-size wooden boat” from Oron, Akwa Ibom to Gabon on March 15, when the boat capsized “off Malabo (Equatorial Guinea) waterways”.

Nigerian Compass investigation revealed that already 45 corpses of some of the victims have been deposited at the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital (UCTH) morgue.

Mr David Akate, the Assistant Director, Information, Cross River Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), confirmed the incident but did not give further details.

The eyewitnesses told newsmen that the boat was conveying 168 passengers, adding that rescue efforts were still going on.

A Marine Transporter at the Calabar Inland Waterways, Mr Ikechukwu Egwu, also confirmed the incident, adding that the passengers of the boat were mostly Igbo traders who were travelling to Gabon.

According to him, the traders were mostly from the South East states and headed to Oron in Akwa Ibom to board the wooden boat because it was cheap.

``They are mostly Igbo traders who headed to Oron to board the wooden boat because it was cheaper,’’ he said.

Further findings revealed that the victims’ corpses were being deposited in UCTH Calabar instead of Malabo, where the mishap occurred, because they were believed to be Nigerians.

The eyewitnesses further told newsmen that other corpses had been deposited in Oron, Akwa Ibom.