The Commissioner of Police,Bayelsa State Benjamin Okolo has said that the bodies of four officers earlier declared missing after an encounter with pipeline vandals have been recovered
The command had earlier explained through a statement by its spokesman, Asinim Butswat, that the surveillance boat conveying the deceased officers capsized at Korokorosei in the Southern Ijaw Local Government Area of the state on the fateful day.
It stated that, “One policeman’s body was recovered while three are still missing…The command is yet to establish the circumstances surrounding the unfortunate incident. Divers have been deployed to the area for possible rescue of the missing persons.”
He said, “They (slain officers) intercepted some vandals and burnt some equipment used for vandalism. Preparing to return to base, the boat, which is a gunboat with unidentified people, most likely these vandals, ran into them with the intention to get them capsized.
And in the process, the civil mobile policemen, who were onboard the speedboat that was taking them for the surveillance, capsized and fell into the water. Three swarm to safety but four couldn’t make it, including one of the personnel of Darlon Company. But finally, all the bodies have been recovered.”
Okolo said the Inspector-General of Police and the entire police family were saddened by the huge loss that resulted from the incident.
Operations manager of Darlon Oil and Gas Limited, an oil surveillance firm, identified as Odi Lyon, who was the younger brother of a former All Progressives Congress governorship candidate in Bayelsa, David Lyon, also died in the incident.