How Military Helicopter Attacked Us In Rivers Waterways — Victim

One of the occupants of the wooden cargo boat, which was
attacked along the Bonny waterways in Rivers State, by an
unidentified military helicopter, has relieved his ordeal.

A source earlier said the boat took off at the Bonny-Nembe
waters in Port Harcourt, insisting there were dead casualties.

The source, who spoke in confidence, expressed shock over the
incident, explaining that the boat conveyed passengers and
foodstuff.

He said: “The local boat that just left here to Bonny, within
the Treasure Island area, a chopper or I will call it a flight
helicopter just came behind, went very low and start shooting the
wooden boat.

“From the information we got from a boat driver there were
passengers in the boat. The boat also contained foodstuff, garri,
rice and other items.

“Everyone knows that is the route transporting foodstuff to
Bonny. Some people died in the boat”.

But one of the victims of the attack, Awwal Rufai, a marine
technician specialised in fixing outboard engines, said the
helicopter hovered around the area three times before it opened
fire on the boat.

He said five of them were in the boat, which carried largely
foodstuffs, when the incident occurred at about 2pm, on
Thursday.

Rufai, who identified two other occupants of the boat as Paul
Jacob and Hadi Abdul, said three of them sustained various degrees
of injuries from the attack.

Narrating the incident, he said: “Normally, we leave Port
Harcourt by 10am. On our way coming back, getting to Dutch Island
our engine stopped.

“We called for a new engine, a new engine was sent to us and we
received it at 1pm. Between 1:30 and 2pm a chopper was seen around
that area, it came around the first time, went back, came back
again the second time and left.

“The third time it came around, it dropped a rope from the
chopper and a personnel was seen coming down from the chopper into
the boat and later went back up, next thing they opened fire and
started shooting at us.”

When asked whether there was any loss of life, he said: “It was
just me and one other person that was affected. He got shot on the
knee while I got shot on my middle finger.

“It is a market boat and we were carrying food stuff such as
garri, beans, rice, drinks, sugarcane”.

One of the occupants of the wooden cargo boat, which was
attacked along the Bonny waterways in Rivers State, by an
unidentified military helicopter, has relieved his ordeal.

A source earlier said the boat took off at the Bonny-Nembe
waters in Port Harcourt, insisting there were dead casualties.

The source, who spoke in confidence, expressed shock over the
incident, explaining that the boat conveyed passengers and
foodstuff.

He said: “The local boat that just left here to Bonny, within
the Treasure Island area, a chopper or I will call it a flight
helicopter just came behind, went very low and start shooting the
wooden boat.

“From the information we got from a boat driver there were
passengers in the boat. The boat also contained foodstuff, garri,
rice and other items.

“Everyone knows that is the route transporting foodstuff to
Bonny. Some people died in the boat”.

But one of the victims of the attack, Awwal Rufai, a marine
technician specialised in fixing outboard engines, said the
helicopter hovered around the area three times before it opened
fire on the boat.

He said five of them were in the boat, which carried largely
foodstuffs, when the incident occurred at about 2pm, on
Thursday.

Rufai, who identified two other occupants of the boat as Paul
Jacob and Hadi Abdul, said three of them sustained various degrees
of injuries from the attack.

Narrating the incident, he said: “Normally, we leave Port
Harcourt by 10am. On our way coming back, getting to Dutch Island
our engine stopped.

“We called for a new engine, a new engine was sent to us and we
received it at 1pm. Between 1:30 and 2pm a chopper was seen around
that area, it came around the first time, went back, came back
again the second time and left.

“The third time it came around, it dropped a rope from the
chopper and a personnel was seen coming down from the chopper into
the boat and later went back up, next thing they opened fire and
started shooting at us.”

When asked whether there was any loss of life, he said: “It was
just me and one other person that was affected. He got shot on the
knee while I got shot on my middle finger.

“It is a market boat and we were carrying food stuff such as
garri, beans, rice, drinks, sugarcane”.