Seventeen passengers were rescued as a boat named GT Water Line 4 capsized in Lagos State on Saturday.

The PUNCH gathered that the boat capsized 20 minutes after taking off from Ebute-Ero en route to Ikorodu terminal.

The General Manager, Lagos state waterways Authority, Oluwadamilola Emmanuel, confirmed the incident in a statement,

The statement read, “The boat was said to have left the Ebute-Ero at about 5.15pm with 17 passengers onboard 14 male and three female, LASWA Patrol team and some other Boat Operators were swift to respond to the distress call from the boat thereby able to rescue all 17 passengers onboard alive which included two minors, apparently all passengers were putting on their life jackets which was greatly responsible for safe rescue of all onboard.

“The boat and it’s captain have been taken to custody for further investigation to unravel the cause of the accident and necessary actions.

“To forestall recurrence of such incident LASWA has once again warned all boat operators to always adhere strictly to safety measures while advising all waterways users to ensure the use of life jackets at all time when boarding a boat.”