Ten crew members from a fishing trawler in Lagos were rescued by the Nigerian Navy Ship (NNS) BEECROFT after the vessel capsized within the Lagos channel.
Christened OLOKUN XII, the vessel capsized within the Lagos channel in the early hours of Monday, November 7, 2022, while it was being towed by another fishing trawler.
NigeriaCrime.com learned that the fishing trawler capsized after it collided with a Merchant Vessel, MSC CORUNA.
Western Naval Command’s (WNC) Information Officer, Commander Edward Yeibo, who confirmed the incident in a statement, said the fishing trawler collided with a Merchant Vessel, MSC CORUNA, which led to its capsize.
“Fortunately, NNS BEECROFT patrol team was on routine patrol which led to the prompt rescue of 10 crew members from the trawler. Thereafter, the rescued crew were handed over to the officials of the company, named Barnaly Fishing Company Limited,” he said
Yeibo said the Commander, NNS BEECROFT, Commodore Malami Haruna, commiserated with the fishing company over the “sad incident”.
Haruna urged seafarers to navigate with caution and due consideration to the international regulation for the prevention of collision when transiting within the nation’s maritime domain.
Recall that last month a footballer Ernest Peremobowei, reportedly died while trying to rescue victims of a boat mishap in Bebelebiri Community of Yenagoa Local Government Area, Bayelsa State.
Peremobowei, one of the three joint top scorers in the just concluded Prosperity Cup, died while returning home in a canoe shortly after taking his wife and three children to higher ground to escape the raging flood.
According to an eyewitness account, the canoe which was conveying him and six other persons from the Federal Medical Center waterfront capsized because it could not withstand the current of the raging flood.
Confirming the incident, the coach of Bebelebiri FC which he played for during the last edition of the competition, Kenneth Dreams, said that the popular footballer died in the process of rescuing other occupants of the canoe.
He said: “He took his family to an IDP camp because the flood had taken over his house. So, while returning home, he boarded a canoe with six others when the current of the raging flood capsized the boat.