Operatives of the Nigerian Navy Forward Operating Base (NNFOB) in Bonny, Rivers State, have rescued 20 passengers, including children and an infant, who were stranded on the Bonny-Port Harcourt waterway.
The Naval operatives led by the Commander of NNFOB, Captain Maksum Mohammed, were conducting an intelligence surveillance and recognisance (ISR) mission of the general area between the Federal Ocean Terminal, Onne and Dawes Island in Okrika local government area of Rivers State, when they came in contact with an outboard-powered engine speedboat which was stranded on the sea last Thursday.
The team waited out on the speedboat to fix its faulty engine and let it continue its sail to Bonny, only to encounter it again and after evaluating the situation decided its engines were apparently unfixable in the circumstance, shut it down and transloaded its passengers to the Navy fastboat and conveyed them to Bonny.
Speaking to journalists on the incident, the NNFOB Commanding Officer expressed serious concern about a tragedy that was averted, querying; “What if it rained and the weather became turbulent? What would have been the fate of the children in that boat, especially the infant and his mother?
“This is a clear case of willful endangerment of passengers’ safety. Why would any mariner in his right senses sail with passengers on board a boat which engines were outrightly faulty and unable to sustain an hour journey?
“And then we are also dealing with recent cases of attacks on the river; what if these criminals had seen and approached them and taken them captive? What leverage would they have had to escape their assailants? It’s quite unfortunate that hapless passengers could be so exposed to avoidable risks and for the exorbitant amount they pay?
“We met the boat that broke down or simulated a breakdown in front of a river mouth. We got there and stayed with them until the engine was reactivated. After it rectified the engines, it left us and went ahead and even went out of sight.
“We were carrying out surveillance of the general area when we concluded our surveillance and continued on our way. We flew our drone in that area because it was in front of a river entrance; one of the river entrances that those criminals have been known to come out from.
“This is just in case, maybe, there was some kind of a plan because nearly all the kidnap incidents occurred where there was an engine failure or simulation in front of a river mouth, which now resulted in the kidnap as they come out and then pick their victims and carry on.
“We encountered the same boat again simulating another engine failure in front of another river entrance. Simulating another engine failure – as far as I’m concerned, I’ll use simulation – in a place that is also known for kidnap activities. It was at that point that we decided to evacuate the passengers onto our own boats and continued with the movement.”
He advised the state government and the Bonny local government area to urgently consider deploying ferries on the waterways, especially, the Bonny-Port Harcourt sea route as a safer, sustainable, and subsidised means of transportation.
The NNFOB commander added: “It’s obvious that these speedboats are worn-out, rickety, and dangerous for passengers as at now. It’s time for the State Government and the Local Government to review the situation in the interest of the people and deploy ferries to convey passengers on this route.
“The ferries would be safer, sustainable, and also subsize it to make it affordable. The fare is exorbitant. The boats are unserviceable, unsuitable, and not fit for purpose at all. It’s time the government intervened and availed the security agencies the support they needed to ensure passenger safety and waterways security.”
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