13 travellers missing as pirates hijack passenger boat in Rivers

Suspected pirates hijacked a passenger boat carrying 20 travellers along the Bonny-Okrika waterways in Rivers State on Thursday.

This came as the Bonny Local Government Council said it had rescued nine of the passengers, while a frantic search is on to rescue the others.

The Bonny LG Chairman, Anengi Claude-Wilcox, said the rescue was in collaboration with security agencies.

Claude-Wilcox, in a statement by his media aide, Boma Waribor, on Friday, said the driver of the passenger boat went contrary to the rules to pass through kilometre 10, which is a prohibited channel for commercial boat drivers.

The statement reads, “Security briefing at the disposal of the Executive Chairman of Bonny Local Government Area, Anengi Barasua Claude-Wilcox, indicates that a passenger boat comprising 20 persons enroute Bonny was intercepted this afternoon by Sea Pirates around the precincts of Isaka in Okrika Local Government Area.

“However, it should be noted that nine persons have been found and returned to Port Harcourt through the timely intervention of Government Security operatives who are currently up and about and have intensified efforts to rescue the remaining 12 passengers.

“It should be noted that preliminary findings reveal that the Boat Driver disobeyed the rules and passed through Kilometer 10, a prohibited channel for commercial Boat Drivers.

“The relatives of the victims and the public are urged to be calm as the Bonny Local Government Council is seriously collaborating with neighbouring LGAs and the security agencies to arrest the situation.

Meanwhile, the Maritime Union Workers of Nigeria, Rivers State chapter, has expressed worry over the continued pirate attacks in the State.

The Chairman of the MUWN, Rivers Commercial District, Isreal Wariboko, while reacting decried the incessant attacks despite the efforts of the state government to stop the trends.

He noted that the pirates came out with different strategies in each operation, nothing that the miscreants reside in the mangrove.

According to him, “Of course you know these boys. When they know that there is security in this area, they go to another area to operate. They are criminals.

“The truth of the matter is that they are in that they are somehow in the mangrove, and they monitor the activities of security agencies and the movement of every individual. So they come out when they see that the place is a little bit free.”

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“Sometimes security can be at the front, and they operate behind. Sometimes when they know that they are there, they go ahead of the security. That is the way they operate. As long as they are in the mangrove, we will continue to see this type of attack once in a while,” Wariboko said.

He, therefore, called for more security presence along the waterways to curb the incessant attacks, even as he said the latest attacks have been reported to the police.

He further said, “You will recall that after our protest and the donation of gunboats by the Governor, we have not complained about pirate attacks along our sea routes.

“Just recently they have devices another means. I will go out there and find out what really happened to know whether the boat followed the real route or diverted to another route.

“The marine police are aware of the matter, and I know that they are handling it. As a union, too, we have sent a search party twice today.”