A boat mishap in Ekeremor Local Government Area of Bayelsa State on Saturday caused the drowning of five members of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.
The victims were returning from the PDP ward congress held in the council.
By Sunday afternoon, three out of the five corpses had been recovered while the search for the remaining continued.
Apart from the five that died, seven other party members were reportedly rescued from the mishap. One of those believed to have been rescued by local divers and other passengers of oncoming boats is Peremobowei Ebebi, a former deputy governor of the state.
Witnesses claimed that distress calls to the police were unattended to as majority of the police offers were providing security for PDP leaders who arrived the state for the congress.
When contacted, the Deputy Police Public Relations Officer, Lawrence Eboka, said he had not been briefed about the accident as he was at the home of the President Goodluck Jonathan on special duty.
The Saturday incident which occurred at about 5 p.m. raised concerns among residents of the waterways who had been faced with recent pirate attacks. Last week, four police officers were killed in the Bayelsa waterways by pirates believed to be militants.
Commercial boat operators have since withdrawn scheduled passenger boat services to protest the insecurity in the waterways.
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