The eight seamen who drowned after the ship on which they were sailing (MT Tank) collided with another one(MT Elixir) last year may have been officially confirmed dead, even as their remains are yet to be recovered.
The Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) has also given up on the search for the remains of the eight missing crew on board the ill-fated MT. Tank. The accident occurred in October last year.
Shipping Position Daily gathered that the apex regulatory agency has cleverly confirmed to the families that the crew on board the ship are dead and that their bodies could not be found.
Speaking with our correspondent in Lagos last week, father of one of the crew on board the tanker; Mr. Frederick Edoloro said that top officials of NIMASA at a meeting told families and relatives in attendance that their loved ones are dead, and that there is no trace of their corpses.
Father of Emmanuel Onoriode Edoloro , who was the chief cook on board the ill-fated ship, said that two male and a light complexion female told the families that their children have been dead since the October 19, 2016 accident.
“NIMASA told us at the meeting that the crew are dead. “We went to NIMASA because they invited us for a meeting on the third floor of the building”
“They were two men and fair skinned woman who told us that the crew members aboard MT. Tank were all dead.”
He also said that NIMASA told them that it had instructed the ship owners to prepare all necessary arrangement to compensate the families of the dead crew.
Mr. Edoloro who is based in Delta state, maintained that the ship owners are yet to pay for the burial rites and compensation.
He added that lawyer to the owners; Twinstomp Energy, had affirmed the company’s commitment to pay the families.
Asked about the essence of the burial when the corpses of the crew were not seen, father to the missing sailor said that it is the customs in the Niger Delta.
He said, “we leave in a riverine area and when things like this happen we have a way to bury our love ones despite the fact that they drown and their bodies can not be seen”.
However, when contacted Deputy Director, Public Relations of NIMASA, Hajia Lami Tumaka did not respond to calls and text messages put across to her.
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