Sea Pirates killed 25-years old man, injure six in Bayelsa

Armed men suspected to be sea-pirates Thursday attacked a local boat killing a 25 years old man simply identified as ThankGod, leaving six crew members severely injured in Brass LGA of Bayelsa state.

According to one of the victim that spoke to newsmen in Yenagoa, said the incident took place about 2pm on Wednesday along the Borma rice farm axis of the Brass/Ogbia/Yenagoa route.

Recounting their ordeal, the manager of the boat, Mr Kemelayefa Gabriel, said that he and his six crew members were on their way to Yenagoa from Brass after the close if work for the year before the daredevils struck and sniffed life out Thankgod.

According to him, when they got Borma rice farm axis of the Brass/Ogbia/Yenagoa route a speedboat conveying seven armed men suspected to be pirates came out from a narrow creek and started shooting at the boat.

“In the process a bullet hit ThankGod on the head and he died on the spot, after minutes of shooting at us they stopped and entered the boat and started beating us with their guns, robbed us and sped-off afterwards. He explained.

Reacting to the rising wave sea pirate activities on the waterways of the state, the chairman of Maritime Workers Union in Bayelsa state, Comrade Lloyd Sese, described the situation as crude, calling on the federal government to come to their aid as efforts by state government to curb the menace has not yielded any positive result.

He further explained that on daily basis, its members lose over N5 million to sea pirates on the average. “What baffles us most is the fact that sea pirates spend over 3 hours rubbing one boat without any form of resistance from waterway security personnel. In some cases after robbing their helpless victims they even spend time raping women and even force their victims to conduct prayer session on board the boat before leaving.

“As far as we are concerned the situation has gone out of hand and it is time we invite the federal government to cone to our aid.”

The body of late ThankGod who hails from Igbomotoru community in Southern Ijaw LGA has since been deposited at the Federal Medical Center morgue in Yenagoa.