Three dead, 17 rescued as boat capsizes in Lagos

Three people have drowned, while 17 others were rescued by marine police, when a commercial boat capsized in Badagry area of Lagos state.

According to NAN, the boat was said to have taken off from Liverpool area on Wednesday, but capsized at Imoba near Ajido on the Badagry waterway.

The boat was said to have developed a mechanical fault.

“As the boat stopped suddenly, it capsized, throwing all the passengers on board into the water,” a police source said.

“It was at this point that the marine police on the waterway patrol came to rescue them.

“At the end of operation, 17 passengers including three children were rescued while three of them died in the water.”

The officer added that two of the three bodies were retrieved for burial by the families of the victims.

“Only one out of the three corpses was deposited at the mortuary of the General Hospital in Badagry,” he said.

Tunde Bakare, medical director of the Badagry General Hospital, confirmed that one corpse in relation to the boat incident was deposited at the mortuary.

“We don’t know about the remaining two corpses but the only woman they brought was dead and she is now in the mortuary,” he said.

When contacted, Nkechi Ajayi, spokesperson for the Lagos State Waterways Authority (LASWA), told NAN that she was yet to be briefed on the incident.