Boat Carrying 300 People Capsizes in Nigeria, More than 100 Missing

More than 100 people are missing in Nigeria after a boat, mainly carrying women and children, capsized in Niger State, authorities reported. The locally crafted wooden boat, designed to hold 100 passengers, was overloaded with around 300 people when it capsized in the rural Mokwa district, according to an emergency official on Wednesday.

The vessel went down in the Niger River on Tuesday night at about 8:30pm (19:30 GMT), stated Abdullahi Baba-Arah, the Director General of the Niger State Emergency Management Agency (NSEMA). The passengers were returning from an Islamic religious festival at the time of the incident.

Rescue teams and volunteers from Mokwa local government area managed to save 150 people, according to Baba-Arah's early Wednesday statement. He added, "The search and rescue operation is still ongoing to locate more survivors."

Later in the day, Nigerian news outlet Punch quoted Baba-Arah, reporting that nine bodies had been recovered. “Nine corpses have been recovered in the Gbajibo boat accident. Two females and seven men,” Baba-Arah updated, as the publication noted.

Meanwhile, local media outlet Vanguard News cited a statement from the Council Chairman of Mokwa local government, acknowledging that dozens of bodies had been found. “Council Chairman Abdullahi Muregi acknowledged the recovery of approximately 60 bodies, while 10 survivors have been found,” Vanguard reported.

The boat had been en route from Mundi to Gbajibo for the Annual Maulud celebration when the tragedy occurred, as confirmed by both the local government and NSEMA officials.

Ismaila Umar, the head of an association of boat skippers in Mokwa, told Reuters that the likelihood of finding more survivors was slim.

This marks the second major disaster in Niger State within 18 months, following a similar boat accident that claimed over 100 lives.

Experts suggest that most recent boat tragedies in Nigeria are due to regulatory lapses and are frequently caused by overloading or poorly maintained boats. "The boat was not supposed to carry more than 100 persons, but there were almost 300 people on it. And that was what resulted in the breakage of the boat," explained Salihu Garba, the director of relief and rehabilitation at the state emergency services, in a statement to The Associated Press news agency.

NSEMA's Baba-Arah noted that the agency was investigating Tuesday's accident, and that the exact cause had not yet been determined, according to local reports.

Source: Aljazera