How Foreign Fishermen Missing On Atlantic Ocean Were Found In Bayelsa | READ DETAILS
Two fishermen, Antonio Sabino and Osorio Pires, were rescued in the Brass Local Government Area of Bayelsa State on Sunday five days after they got lost in the Atlantic Ocean.
The Portuguese-speaking fishermen, who hail from São Tomé and Príncipe, a country in central Africa, were said to have been rescued by trawler fishing around the Gulf of Guinea and subsequently handed over to some fishermen from Okpoama-Brass who ferried them ashore.
Thereafter, the duo were taken to the Okpoama Divisional Police Headquarters and received by the officer in charge, Ebimiesigha Bebetu.
The Chairman, Okpoama Kingdom Security Committee, Munalayefa William-Sinte, said the fishermen looked malnourished but were fed and clothed before they were handed over to the police.
According to him, the fishermen were visibly afraid but were assured of their safety with sign language before the police took custody of them.
William-Sinte also said that a fisherman from Ilaje in Ondo State but a resident in Okpoama had been missing for over a week, adding that his colleagues had been searching the ocean for him for days.
The Bayelsa State Police Command confirmed the rescue of the two São Tomé and Príncipe fishermen some 50 nautical miles off the Atlantic Ocean on July 2, 2023.
The state Police Public Relations Officer, Asinim Butswat, in a statement on Monday, said the Divisional Police Officer, Okpoama Division, took custody of them.
The statement said, “The two fishermen, Antonio Sabino, 52, and Osorio Pires, 41, from Neves in SaôTomē and Principe, got lost in the Atlantic Ocean for five days before being rescued by a captain of a fishing trawler.
“The police authorities have established contact with a coast guard officer from Saô Tomē and Principe and are making a concerted effort to reunite them with their family.”
Recall that in 2019, the decomposing corpses of two male fishermen were found in a fishing boat that drifted ashore in Okpoama from Sao Tomē and Principe.
