Rescue efforts have continued to recover bodies of seven persons drowned at the Robert-Kiri waterways in Kula Kingdom, Akuku-Toru Local Government Area of Rivers State, following a mishap involving a tugboat and a speedboat carrying over 15 persons.
The incident occurred on Tuesday, 20th October 2026, when a tugboat escorted by military personnel attempted to pull out a 200,000-barrel capacity oil vessel operated by the Ibeto Group after 2years of operating in the area.
While eight persons were rescued alive from the boat mishap, 7 died in the incident.
The victims include the Secretary of the Kula CDC, Davies Opiri and two personnel of a local security outfit known as Amama soldiers whose identity where yet to be identified.
Others are David Sukubo, Endwell Ameme, Aboy Umeonu and Nye Oriye.
The victims were among protesting members of Kula satellite communities and fishing settlements who barricaded the oil vessel from sailing out of their coastal waters over unresolved issues with the company including issues of environmental pollution.
They alleged that the Ibeto Group polluted their waterways, fishing ports and creeks, refused to pay local vendors and failed to pay royalties due to the host communities in the course of its operations in the area.
The search and rescue team, which included the DPO of Abonnema Police Division, the President of the National Youth Council of Nigeria, Amb. Sukubo Sara-Igbe Sukubo, chiefs and other indigenes of Kula, searched through creeks and water bodies where the incident occurred.
However, only five out of the seven bodies have been recovered while search for the remaining two was still ongoing.
One of the survivors, Gibert Pokubo, blamed military personnel attached to the tugboat for the incident.
He alleged that the military acted on the instruction of the Ibeto Group to forcefully pull out the oil vessel from the area not minding any obstable on their way.
One of the leaders of the search and rescue team, Jonah Joshua, expressed hope of recovering the bodies of all the victims.
He said the Ibeto Group and personnel of the Sector 3 Command Okrika of the Nigeria Army involved should be held responsible for what he described as avoidable deaths of the ınnocent persons.
A relative of one of the victims, Stephen Willbraide, said the wife, children and other family members of the deceased are deeply saddened and devastated by the incident.
He demanded a thorough investigation and justice in the matter.
