The Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau (NSIB) has begun investigation into the boat mishap that occurred in Kpada community, Pategi Local Government Area of Kwara, on Monday night.
The NISIB Director-General, Mr Akin Olateru, said this while briefing newsmen on Thursday in Abuja.
Olateru said that the commencement was in line with enabling law of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, NSIB ACT 2022 and the directive of the president of Nigeria.
“From reports gathered thus far, the boat was said to have conveyed not less than 250 passengers from a village called Egboti in Niger State.
“Information received by the bureau also revealled that 106 fatalities had been recorded and the total of 144 passengers had been rescued so far.
“NSIB is an autonomous multimodal investigation agency charged with the mandate to investigate air, rail, marine and other modes of transportation accidents and serious incidents in Nigeria.
“It is with the aim of identifying the probable causes and proffer safety recommendations that can prevent reoccurrences.
“The purpose of accident investigation, however, is not to apportion blame or liability, but to prevent future recurrence of similar incidents, “ he said.
He said the bureau will be carrying out a lot of fact findings from the crew and passenger interviews and work with relevant authorities to determine the probable cause(s) of this accident.
“I will also like to use this medium to reach out to other local, state, federal agencies and other relevant stakeholders to maintain effective cooperation and collaboration so as to ensure transportation safety.
“We are committed to swift response to accident and serious incident occurrences through our well-equipped Command and Control Centre.
“ Accident reporting has also been simplified through our Mobile Application, which was introduced to interface with the public and make it easy for them to communicate with NSIB digitally,“ he said.
He solicited for information from the public in form of pictures, video or recording evidences to help assist in conducting a comprehensive investigation.
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