Three children have died after a passenger boat capsized at Ikebiri-1 community in the Southern Ijaw Local Government Area of Bayelsa State.
The vessel was travelling from Azuzuama in the same council area.
The incident happened around 1 a.m. on Wednesday when a commercial wooden boat was transporting passengers to Yenagoa, the state capital.
A local diver from Ikebiri community said the bodies of the deceased children — two males and one female, aged between six and 15 — have been recovered by local divers and taken back to Azuzuama, where the journey began.
Former Chairman of the Maritime Union Workers in Bayelsa State, Ipigansi Ogoniba, confirmed the incident and said divers from Yenagoa had been dispatched to the scene, with a report still awaited.
He added that the union has yet to receive details on casualties or the total number of passengers on board, since the boat did not depart from Yenagoa.
Authorities suspect the accident was caused by overloading and a failed pumping machine meant to evacuate water from the boat.
When contacted, Bayelsa State police spokesman, DSP Musa Muhammad, said he was unaware of the incident. He promised to investigate and revert but did not answer subsequent calls.
Dele Fashomi, seasoned journalist and communication teacher, is a holder of Master of Arts degree in Communication and Language Arts from the University of Ibadan in 1992/93.
Earlier, he had bagged a Bachelor degree from the same university in 1984, after which he proceeded to the Nigerian Institute of Journalism, Lagos, in 1990, for a postgraduate diploma in Journalism.
He had done many courses in communication, including the EU-BBC Editing Course in 2002.
Mr. Fashomi combines effectively the practice, research and teaching of communication. And to date, he has published two academic works in communication: Issues in Communication Technology and Policy (2010) and Economic and Social Issues in Advertising and PR (2013).
He had his first break in the Nigerian media in Concord Newspapers in 1990 and today, he has over two and half decades experience earned in several newspapers.
He has been part of many start-ups, such as The Republic (1987), The Comet (1999), The Anchor 2001 – 2002; Sun Newspapers (2003); Westerner newsmagazine (2005 – 2010) as Editor; National Life (2011) as Sunday Editor, and Newswatch Newspapers (2012- 2016) as Daily Editor.
Dele Fashomi is now the Publisher/Editor-in-Chief of Newstide247.com newspaper online, which he started in July 2015. He is also into biography writing, with many books in his trail, some of which he wrote alone and one he co- authored with his mentor, Mr Dare Babarinsa, entitled: Olabiyi Durojaiye – DARE TO BE DiFFERENT. He also guided and collaborated with Pa Olatunji Odusanya in writing his autobiography – AGAINST ALL ODDS. There are many other books in the works under his pen.
