The crash at sea and the loss of about seven lives of Kula youths in Rivers State have pitched the community against the Ibeto Group. The Kula community said they were yet to recover the bodies of seven youths including the youth leader, and blamed both Ibeto group and the Army in the area.
Ibeto, through Max Shipping Limited, denied having any hand in the sea crash, saying the vessel was on hire to another company.
Youths protesting at sea to stop the massive vessel A statement from Kula Thursday said rescue efforts were underway to recover the bodies of seven persons drowned at the Robertkiri waterways in Kula area, Akuku-Toru Local Government Area of Rivers State, following a mishap involving a tugboat and a speedboat carrying over 15 Kula youths.
The incident was said to have occurred on Tuesday when a tugboat allegedly escorted by military personnel attempted to pull out a 200,000-barrel capacity oil vessel said to be operated by the Ibeto Group after operating for two years in the area. The victims are said to include Davies Opiri, Secretary of the Kula Community Development Committee (CDC), and two unidentified members of a local security outfit known as Amama Soldiers.
Others are named as David Sukubo, Endwell Ameme, Aboy Umeonu and Nye Oriye. However, eight persons who were also in the speedboat at the time of the incident were rescued. They were among protesting members of Kula satellite communities and fishing settlements who were said to have vowed to prevent the oil vessel from sailing out of their coastal waters over unresolved issues with the company.
They alleged that the Ibeto Group polluted their waterways, fishing ports, and creeks, allegedly refused to pay local vendors and failed to pay royalties due to the host communities in the course