Nigeria Boat Accident Kills 36, Over 100 More Feared Dead: Emergency Agency

Faizan Hashmi Published October 03, 2024 | 11:51 PM

Least 36 people have died and 100 more are feared dead after a boat reportedly carrying hundreds of mostly women and children capsized in north-central Nigeria, officials told AFP on Thursday

Kano, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 3rd Oct, 2024) At least 36 people have died and 100 more are feared dead after a boat reportedly carrying hundreds of mostly women and children capsized in north-central Nigeria, officials told AFP on Thursday.

Following the accident on the River Niger on Tuesday, some 150 of the roughly 300 passengers were rescued and there was now "no possibility" of finding others alive, emergency agency spokesman Ibrahim Audu Husseini told AFP.

On Wednesday the emergency agency for Niger State said the passengers were mostly women and children on their way to celebrate the Muslim festival Mawlid in Gbajibo Community, near Mokwa.

It did not specify the cause of the sinking. Boat accidents are common on Nigeria's poorly regulated waterways, particularly during the rainy season when rivers and lakes swell.

Niger State emergency agency spokesman Husseini said: "We have recovered 20 more bodies today. This brings to 36 the number of bodies recovered from the river. We brought out 16 bodies yesterday.

"There is no possibility of getting any survivors. All the missing are definitely dead by now. There is no way one can survive three days underwater. The work now is to recover all the missing bodies."