The passengers, mostly women and children, were heading to a remote town for celebrations of the birth of the Prophet Muhammad, called “Mawlid Nabaoui”, when the accident occurred on Tuesday, said Abdullahi Baba Arah, head of the the emergency relief agency for Niger State.
Mr. Baba Arah did not explain the cause of the accident, but assured that “courageous local divers” had helped find some 150 survivors.
He said the boat was carrying almost 300 people on the Niger River at Gbajibo, near Mokwa, when it encountered difficulties around 8:30 p.m. (7:30 p.m. GMT).
At least 16 bodies were found, emergency relief agency spokesperson Ibrahim Audu Husseini told AFP, adding that they were “two women and 14 men”.
“We expect to find more,” he said Wednesday evening.
Boating accidents are common in Nigeria on poorly regulated waterways, particularly during the rainy season.
Last month, an overloaded boat sank while carrying more than 50 farmers across the Gummi River in Zamfara state (northwest). More than 40 of them are believed to have died in the sinking.
Par Le360 Africa (with AFP)
02/10/2024 at 8:18 p.m.
