Pirates operating on the Niger Delta waters have killed Engineer Williams Kemewerigha, younger brother to the former national president of the Nigerian Merchant Navy Officers and Water Transport Senior Staff Association; Captain Thomas Kemewerigha.
The seafarer met his untimely death penultimate week when sea robbers intercepted the vessel on which he was an engineer around the Bakassi Rivers in Cross Rivers state, kidnapped the late engineer and an Indian captain. Both of them were held captive for days.
Our correspondent confirmed last week that the late Williams Kemewerigha died during a boat mishap in the process of negotiating the ransom that was demanded by the abductors.
Shipping Position Daily confirmed last week that the late Williams Kemewerigha was 46 years old, married and had three children.
The corpse was later brought to the Kirikiri jetty office of the fishing company that owned the ill-fated ship. The body was witnessed by the president of Nigerian Trawler Owners Association (NITOA); Mr. Joseph Overo, the president of Merchant Navy Officers Senior Staff Association, Engineer Alalade Matthew, the association's former president and senior brother of the deceased; Captain Thomas Kemewerigha and members of the seafaring fraternity.
The deceased has since been buried in his home town in Bayelsa state.
The latest incidence has further incensed members of the Merchant Navy Officers Senior Staff Association, whose leader; Engineer Alalade Matthew condemned the killing of his member and stressed the need for the Federal Government to take the issue of safety on the nation’s waters more seriously.
However, Shipping Position Daily was able to track down the deceased sailors senior brother; Captain Thomas Kemewerigha in Apapa, Lagos last week, where he lamented that security at sea is only present in Lagos waters, while other parts of the nation’s maritime domain remains insecure.
Kewemerigha described his late younger brother as a promising seafarer, even as he narrated that the Indian captain (names withheld) who was abducted along with his brother survived the attack, even after the N1.5Million ransom had been paid to the sea robbers.
He said that his brother died as a result of machete wounds sustained on his forehead and was unable to swim in the process even when the Indian captain drew the attention of the robbers to the need to spare the late engineer.
Giving an insight into how his brother met his untimely death, the senior Kemewerigha told our correspondent exclusively that, "my brother and the captain were kidnapped two weeks ago (on a Tuesday), they were taken to the Creeks, they negotiated for N2.7million ransom to N1.5million, they (the sea robbers) gave them time and deadline on when to collect the money".
"They cover the faces of my brother and the Indian, even when they are being fed and because the captain was an Indian, my younger brother was the one talking".
" By 9 am on Wednesday, the money was not forthcoming, they got angry, saying that my brother was arranging the Navy and JTF and my brother assured them that the money will come"
"In the process of communicating with those bringing the money, they lost contact and according to the captain, the last time he saw my brother was when the speedboat in which they were held capsized in the process of looking for those with the money ".
According to him, "the boat capsized and my brother was swimming up to a point that the sea robbers felt he was swimming off and the captain was telling them that the chief engineer was tired, but instead they helped the Indian captain and took him back to the camp and that was all the captain could say".
"While in the camp the money came and from what we gathered, when in the mortuary, we noticed that his ears have been cut off, there were machete wounds on his back, he was the negotiator", Capt Kemewerigha told Shipping Position Daily last week.
He said that the death of his younger brother came as shock, adding that since the incident his children and wife have been staying with him in his house.
He said that the fishing company; Barnally Fishing that engaged his late brother had shown concern over the death, adding that 15 Indians from the company were in attendance at the first leg of the funeral which held in Ajegunle, Apapa, Lagos.
http://shippingposition.com.ng/article/tragedy-pirates-kill-junior-brother-ex-merchant-navy-president-capt-thomas-kemewerigha
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