A five-year-old girl, Comfort Isegu has reportedly been shot dead by suspected sea robbers who attacked their speedboat in Bayelsa State.
The deceased, her sibling and their mother, Lovina Isegu, were reportedly aboard the speedboat with six other passengers when the gunmen attacked them.
They were travelling from the Swali Market Waterfront in Yenagoa, the state capital, to Koluama 1 and 2 in the Southern Ijaw Local Government Area of the state when the incident happened around 5pm on Wednesday.
It was gathered that the pirates opened fire on the speedboat while the driver was trying to flee after sighting them as they approached Koluama.
The state Chairman, Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria, Mr Ogoniba Ipigansi, who confirmed the attack, added that the boat driver, Mr Okilo Orubiko, was also shot.
According to him, Orubiko sustained serious gunshot wounds but managed to navigate the boat and the passengers to Koluama 1, where he was taken for medical treatment.
Ipigansi said, “We are calling on the state and federal governments to pay serious attention to the security of lives and property of drivers and passengers travelling on the waterways.
“We particularly urge the government to immediately do something to address the porous security in these areas as lives and property are no longer safe on the waterways.”