BLACK WEDNESDAY: Over 160 People Die In Boat Mishap In Calabar

At least 45 people died when a wooden boat carrying 166 people from southeastern Nigeria capsized off the coast, a doctor said on Tuesday.

The boat left on Friday from the town of Oron, in Akwa-Ibom state, and was heading across the Gulf of Guinea to Gabon, in central Africa, when it capsized 40 nautical miles offshore, emergency services and traders said.

A doctor at a hospital in the coastal town of Calabar said they had received 45 bodies of passengers who had drowned.

David Akate, head of Cross Rivers emergency services, said he had no official death toll yet. Two known survivors were a young boy and a woman who had clung to a gas cylinder and were rescued by fishermen, he added.

Yushua Shuaib, spokesman for the National Emergency Management Agency, said they could only confirm nine dead so far.

"They are mostly ... traders from the southeast who headed to Oron to board the wooden boat," said Ikechukwu Egwu, a marine transporter in the area.

Boat accidents are relatively common in Africa, where safety standards are poor. As many as 138 people died when an overloaded boat carrying passengers and goods capsized in rough water on a river in Democratic Republic of Congo in 2010.

Some 35 people taking this route from Nigeria to Gabon died after their boat sunk off the coast of Cameroon in 2008.

Source:www.oilprincee.blogspot.com

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Posted: at 20-03-2013 04:40 AM (12 years ago) | Upcoming

 

Posted: at 20-03-2013 09:32 AM (12 years ago) | Gistmaniac

This is tragedy:rest in peace

Posted: at 20-03-2013 09:38 AM (12 years ago) | Newbie

Such a pity

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Posted: at 20-03-2013 09:45 AM (12 years ago) | Gistmaniac

very bad ,,RIP

Posted: at 20-03-2013 09:55 AM (12 years ago) | Gistmaniac

ok 45 died 4rm d calaba incident, 138 died @congo, 35 died on rout to gabon   you did a summation & couldn't come out with the right answer & said over 160 died? if 166 people were traveling trough calabar waters & there was an incident & only 2 survived, no be 164 died?Y mix up 3 stories in 1? besides the calabar incident you're referring to wasn't even this year   

Posted: at 20-03-2013 10:31 AM (12 years ago) | Gistmaniac

may their soul rest in perfect paece. Amen amen and Amen....

Posted: at 20-03-2013 10:39 AM (12 years ago) | Upcoming

Oh my God have mercy

Posted: at 20-03-2013 10:46 AM (12 years ago) | Gistmaniac

I tink is high time to do some precautionary measjres to avoid loss of life. Sea travel is smtin dat luks less fearful to me dan air.

Posted: at 20-03-2013 10:53 AM (12 years ago) | Upcoming

Sad!

Posted: at 20-03-2013 11:30 AM (12 years ago) | Gistmaniac