By Ene Asuquo
The bodies of the three medical students that were missing when the cruise boat capsized during the week end at the marina resort beach have been found after three days
The three, a female student Ogwu Aisha Celestina a student of the University of uyo and two male students, Hamza Kabir of the Amadu Bello University and Mustapha Tukur also of the Amadu Bello University, Zaria were found at about 11:am Monday 26th June 2023 by local divers
Meanwhile, the leadership of Nigerian medical students association has blamed the management of Marina Resort over the boat mishap where 3 of their members lost their lives and 11 others were rescued
Nigerian medical students converged in Calabar for their annual NIMSA Health Week with the theme “Paradise Experience” and as part of the activities decided to visit the resort which time some of them embarked on boat cruise.
Addressing news men at the premises of the resort where the students had visited, the national president of the association, Ejim Clement Egba said “This ugly, avoidable and extremely traumatizing incident causing so much anguish to the medical students community nation wide was as a result of negligence, incompetence and the lackadaisical attitude of the crew members and the management of Marina resort.
He further explained that the engine of the boat had gone off and water entering the boat in an uncontrollable speed and quantity.
“At this point, the boat started sinking and finally capsized.”
Egba added that factors that contributed to the mishap included: leaky boat, poor condition and integrity of the vests, poorly maintained engines resulting in the engine going off during the trip, fuel finishing before they got back to shore, little or no supervision by Marina Resort management as well as poor regulation and monitoring.
According to him, the management of the Resort was duly informed which time they would have properly checked their boats and prepare for them but failed to do so.
The students expressed annoyance that the management failed in their responsibilities to customers and ought to have been closed do