Search teams are still combing the creeks around Kula in Rivers State for victims of a boat crash that community leaders say left up to 10 people feared dead, while police investigate what caused it.
The collision happened Tuesday evening on the Robertkiri waterways in Kula Kingdom, Akuku-Toru Local Government Area, when a tugboat and a speedboat carrying more than 15 youths from the community collided, according to local reports. Eight people were pulled out alive.
The tugboat, which had security personnel on board, was trying to tow out a 200,000-barrel vessel known as the Anambra Basin FSO, according to reports. Residents had opposed the vessel’s removal over concerns about an alleged oil spill and were demanding remediation and compensation.
Sukubo Sara-Igbe, a Kula indigene and president of the National Youth Council of Nigeria, alleged that six gunboats arrived during the operation and that a boat carrying community members capsized in the confrontation. A community chief, Anabs Sara-Igbe, said two local security personnel were among those feared dead.
A separate statement from the Kula community put the number of dead at seven youths, including the youth leader, and blamed both the vessel’s owner and the Army. Search teams of police, chiefs and residents had recovered no bodies about 24 hours after the incident, according to reports. Families of those missing have waited anxiously for news, according to local reports.
Police have confirmed the incident but not the death toll. Spokesperson ASP Agabe Blessing Kaborlo said investigators were working to establish the exact number of casualties and the circumstances, and no victims had been identified.
Max Shipping Services Limited, a subsidiary of the Ibeto Group, denied responsibility. In a statement dated Oct. 21, the company said it was deeply saddened by reports that a community boat had capsized. It said it owns the vessel but does not run the oilfield, that the vessel was hired to Menal Technical Services Limited in 2024, and that it wanted its equipment back because hire payments were overdue.
The company also said the crude oil on board had been offloaded before the retrieval, and denied that its chairman, Cletus Ibeto, was directly responsible for the incident.
The Rivers State Police Command said it is investigating, and the inquiry is expected to establish how many people died, who was involved and what led to the confrontation.
Accounts differ on the toll, with community statements citing seven and 10 dead, and on how the collision happened, with the community alleging a confrontation involving gunboats. Police have not confirmed either version.
The Army had not publicly responded to the community’s claims in the reports available.
