No fewer than four policemen and one civilian, on Wednesday, July 26, lost their lives after a gunboat on patrol duty crushed a 200 horsepower engine boat conveying the victims in Bayelsa state.
The civilian, Odi Lyon, was working with Darlon oil and gas limited, an oil surveillance company in Port Harcourt, Rivers state.
Odi was the younger brother of a former governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Bayelsa state, David Lyon.
It was learnt that one of the aides to David Lyon, identified as Ogbojimo, however, survived the incident, which occurred between Ogbunugbene and Ondewari communities near Korokorosei region of Bayelsa around 1.40 am on Wednesday, July 26.
One of the officers who died in the boat mishap was said to have managed to swim to the shore but died before he could get to a health facility at Olugbobiri region of the state.
His corpse, it was learnt, had been recovered while the remaining victims had yet to be found, The Punch reports.
The circumstances surrounding the incident could not be immediately ascertained but it was learnt that the 200 horsepower engine boat of the victims stopped abruptly for yet-to-be-disclosed reasons, before the gunboat overran them.
The spokesman for the Bayelsa state police command, Asinim Butswat, while confirming the incident, said, “On July 26, 2022, around 8 pm, a boat conveying policemen on surveillance capsized at Korokorosei waterways, in the southern Ijaw local government area. One policeman’s body was recovered, while three bodies are still missing.
“The command is yet to establish the circumstances surrounding the unfortunate incident. Divers have been deployed in the area for possible rescue of the missing bodies.”
