Last two bodies recovered as Rivers boat death toll hits seven

•The rescue team. Photo: File

Bodies of the two remaining victims of Tuesday’s boat accident at Robertkiri, along the Kula waterways in Akuku-Toru Local Government Area, have been recovered.

The bodies were reportedly recovered on Saturday evening, and their identities were revealed.

This comes three days after five bodies from the incident were recovered, bringing the total number of corpses recovered so far to seven.

The latest recovery was contained in a statement issued on Sunday by the media team of the Office of Kula Kingdom, Akuku-Toru LGA, and sent to newsmen.

Recall that 15 persons aboard a speedboat reportedly drowned when a firm was pulling out its 200,000-capacity crude oil vessel, named Anambra Basin, from the Kula coastal waters after concluding operations in the area amid unresolved issues with the host communities.

Seven persons lost their lives in the incident, while eight were rescued alive.

On the identities of the latest recovered bodies, the statement partly read, “They were properly identified as Davies Opiri, Secretary of the Kula Community Development Committee, and David Sukubo, younger brother of the President of the National Youth Council of Nigeria.

“The bodies were found along the creeks and mangroves within the Robertkiri axis by the search and rescue team comprising community leaders, divers, local vigilantes and fishermen.”

It further stated that the bodies were deposited at a morgue in Port Harcourt after formal identification by their relatives at the Abonnema Divisional Police Headquarters.

The statement said the people of the area had seized the crude oil vessel belonging to the company, Ibeto Group, and two tugboats allegedly involved in the incident.

“In the meantime, the people of Kula Kingdom have seized and taken over the crude oil vessel and two tugboats, named Delta Runner and Laura-V, involved in the incident, while investigation into the matter is ongoing.

• Wike’s scholarship beneficiary emerges ABUAD’s best Law graduate
• Rivers monarch denies conducting virginity tests on students
• HYPREP equips 120 PWD’s with skills

“The two captains of the tugboats have also been reportedly arrested by the police for investigation.”

Speaking shortly after the recovery of the last two bodies, the leader of the search and rescue team and prominent indigene of Kula, Sukubo Sara-Igbe Sukubo, expressed annoyance over the development, saying it went beyond a boat capsize.

He said the incident was not a boat mishap, as widely reported, but a deliberate act of murder allegedly committed by the Ibeto Group.

“This is havoc committed in Kula Kingdom by Ibeto. He has turned women into widows and children into orphans. He has made families lose their breadwinners, husbands, fathers, brothers, uncles, cousins, nephews and loved ones,” he said.

Sukubo Sara-Igbe also threatened to mobilise a mass protest next week, with the remains of the victims, to the residence and business premises of the Ibeto Group, including its subsidiaries, to demand immediate government action against the company’s owner over the deaths.

“I have declared a 21-day protest starting next week with 51,000 youths and caskets bearing the remains of the victims.

“We shall protest to the residence of Chief Cletus Ibeto in Port Harcourt and shut down all his companies in Rivers State until he is arrested by security agencies and prosecuted for murder.

“We demand justice for the families of the victims and the affected communities,” he stated.

Recall that the Ibeto Group had last week denied direct involvement in the issues that led to the incident at the Robertkiri axis of the Kula waterways.

The company said in a statement that its subsidiary, Max Shipping Services Limited, which operates the crude oil vessel, was engaged by a hirer, Menal Technical Services Limited, under a contractual agreement for crude oil evacuation in the area.