…As Seafarers Thumb Down NIMASA, Navy Over Poor Responses To Attacks
By Barnbas Essiet
Daredevil sea pirates on Wednesday last week kidnapped two crew members on a trawler vessel at Dodo river in the Niger Delta region of Bayelsa State, south – south Nigeria, Shipping Position Daily has confirmed.
Sources disclosed to our correspondent that the fourteen crew member trawler named MV KULAK IX was attacked by armed sea pirates.
Even though the cargo were not stolen by the pirates, the captain and chief engineer of the ship were abducted.
Although no ransom has been demanded by the captors from the owners,our correspondent gathered that the trawler belong to a Lagos based company; Barnaly Fisheries Nigeria Limited.
Our reliable source also gave the names of the abducted crew as Omodaji Awobu , Captain of the ship and Abbukkudan Manikuggan who is the chief engineer.
The Fishing zone of the Merchant Navy Officers ‘ and Water Transport Senior Staff Association got a distress call on Wednesday 13th of January 2016, around 13.00hours about the attack.
Confirming the attack,the source further revealed that an officer of the union name withheld immediately relay the distress call to the search and rescue department of the Nigerian Maritime and Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) at Kirikiri office in Lagos , only for the officer in charge to displayed some level of incompetence in addressing the situation at hand.
The merchant navy official added that the trawler is currently aground in one of the creeks within the coast of Dodo river but added the cargoes are still intact.
As at filling this report last week, plans are afoot to ensure that the ill – fated vessel remain afloat off the creek.
According to source, the agency failed to respond to distress calls concurrently alleging that the Search and Rescue officer in charge was demanding for a detailed text message about the incident.
Speaking extensively on NIMASA shortcomings regarding search and rescue operations on the nation’s territorial waters another Captain told Shipping Position Daily that NIMASA has never responded for ones on such attack within Nigerian coast.
He faulted NIMASA and the navy modus operandi on there patrol in Nigerian waters , saying that the agencies have failed to live up to their responsibilities.
He said both agencies are reluctant to respond over attacks on trawler vessels adding that seafarers are sailing with caution and fear at sea; mostly on Nigerian waters.
The captain called on the federal government to put in place state of the art facilities to monitor activities on waters adding that NIMASA is ill equipped with surveillance facilities.
According to him, the navy only concentrated on tankers operations at sea and abandoned activities of trawlers activities.
Confirming the lacklustre attitude of the apex regulatory agency on such issues ,our correspondent who made a call to the search and rescue department of NIMASA on Friday was told that the office has closed.
The officer who chose not to disclose his identity told our correspondent that “the information you want is not a distress call and I was not informed about the attack, please kindly call back tomorrow or better still on Monday because right now I don’t have details or records about the information”.
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless handheld from Glo Mobile.
