No fewer than 25 passengers including a boat captain and his assistance were yesterday rescued by officers of the Western Marine Command of the Nigeria Customs Service along the Ojo/ Alaba waters of Lagos State.
The customs command’s personnel, who were on a normal morning patrol, sighted the distressed passengers screaming for help along the waterways of Ojo Alaba axis at about 11 am, a development which caught the attention of the officers who immediately came to the rescue of boat and its passengers.
No fewer than 25 passengers including a boat captain and his assistance were yesterday rescued by officers of the Western Marine Command of the Nigeria Customs Service along the Ojo/ Alaba waters of Lagos State.
The customs command’s personnel, who were on a normal morning patrol, sighted the distressed passengers screaming for help along the waterways of Ojo Alaba axis at about 11 am, a development which caught the attention of the officers who immediately came to the rescue of boat and its passengers.
Shipping Position Daily was told that, the patrol team was led by one Inspector of Customs, Mr. Mohammed Tijani. He ensured that no live was lost to the distress, they were all rescued event though the vessel has been badly damaged.
The passengers were however taken to the nearest jetty named Parara within the Ojo Alaba axis.
Speaking with our correspondent on the mishap, an Inspector of Customs, Ado Hussaini who was part of the rescue team said that, "on our way back to the command from Agbara, there is this junction linking Ojo and Alaba connecting the high sea , we noticed a boat with 200 horse power engine in distress and right there in our presence the craft capsized.
"The boat had 25 passengers with the captain and his boy all involved in the accident"
Narrating further, Ado stressed that; "we noticed that they were floating on water, then we devised a means of how to rescue them, no body died in the process".
"We took the passengers to Parara jetty every close the road, then we started calling on their respective family to come ".
According to him, almost all of the passengers, which included 26 males, and a female wore life jackets.
The list of the officers of the Western Marine Command who were involved in the rescue operations, as given Shipping Position Daily included: Adeniyi A, Tijani M.M, Ado H, Ajayi A.S and John O.I.
Meanwhile, the acting Controller of the command, CSC Johnson Gabriel in a chat with newsmen yesterday said that apart from its traditional duty of seizing of contraband and other items, officers of the command also display humanitarian qualities in the course of the duty.
According to him, more patrol boats for the command will enable the marine outfit of customs to be more effective at sea.
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