Mr. Desmond Amaugo, the sailor of the boat that capsized over the weekend at Umunankwo in Ogbaru local government area of Anambra State wherein many people died, said yesterday that he was forced to embark on the ill-fated trip by female traders who were desperate to dispose of their crops harvested prematurely due to this year’s flood that submerged their farms before the maturity of the planted crops.
Amaugo, however, clarified that contrary to reports that 85 people were on board the boat, the actual number was 48.
The boat was carrying mostly women and children at the time of the incident.
He said: “I did not want to embark on that trip, but the people, mostly women, who were desperate to go to Nkwo Ogbakuba market to sell premature crops harvested from flooded farms, begged me to ferry them to the market.
“The market women besieged my house and persuaded me to sail them to Ogbakuba. Having taken off, the wave became too severe and all my attempts to control it failed. The water waves knocked the boat against the pillars of Umunnakwo/Ossomala bridge against all efforts I made to stabilize it.
“Suddenly, the boat capsized. It was terrible seeing people struggle for life.”
He said that the search team recovered 10 more bodies yesterday, adding that efforts were still being made to recover others.
Many people, including family members of the victims, were at the site of the incident, trying to see if the bodies of their relations could be found.
As the recovered corpses were brought to the shore, most of them could not contain their tears. Mr. Bernard Achonu from Isiala Mbano, Imo State, who resides in Mputu community said he lost his wife and three children aged between two and six years.
He said that his family joined the boat to move to a safe area as the flood had submerged almost all houses in the communities in Ogbaru, regretting that the attempt to secure them had turned out to be a misadventure.
Another person, Sebastian Umeorji, who said he was still searching for the body of his wife was sobbing uncontrollably.
Meanwhile, the entire Ogbaru local government area has been cut off from the rest of Anambra State as the River Niger has overflown on the Onitsha – Atani- Osomala – Ogwu -Ikpele road, which is the only access route to the local government.
The Ogbaru local government headquarters at Atani, the Divisional Police headquarters, the Atani campus of the Federal Polytechnic, schools, and churches in the local government have all been submerged.
