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Boat mishap More than 150 people were feared drowned in northwest Nigeria on Wednesday after an overloaded boat ferrying passengers to a market sank in the Niger River, local officials said. The boat was travelling between central Niger state and Wara in northwest Kebbi state when it sank, National Inland Waterways Authority local manager Yusuf Birma told reporters. “The boat capacity was not up to the 180 passengers it carried,” Birma said. “As we speak, only 20 people have been rescued alive, four dead confirmed while the remaining 156 people are still missing and they are believed to be underwater.” President Muhammadu Buhari said the accident was “devastating” and offered his condolences to families, though his statement gave no official total of the number of casualities.
The East African
Thursday May 27 2021
A dredger flushes water from the River Niger near Lokoja, Kogi State, Nigeria in 2019. PHTO | AFP
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More than 150 people were missing and feared drowned in northwest Nigeria on Wednesday after an overloaded boat ferrying passengers to a market sank in the Niger River, local officials said.
The boat was travelling between central Niger state and Wara in northwest Kebbi state when it went down, National Inland Waterways Authority local manager Yusuf Birma told reporters.
The Chairman of Warrah Local Government Council, Mr Abdullahi Haruna, and Mr Ahmed Inga, Director-General of the Niger State Emergency Management Agency (NSEMA) confirmed the accident happened at 11am.
A boat ferrying about 200 persons in Nigeria sank on Wednesday, and just 20 survivors have been found.
Four people are confirmed dead and 156 were missing as of Wednesday afternoon. Officials presume the missing individuals have drowned.
According to local authorities, the boat was over-burdened with passengers and packs of sand. The vessel was just intended to carry only 80 individuals.
The accident occurred between 9 am and 10 am on Wednesday morning and all the passengers in the boat were in the river and there is less hope of getting missing passengers alive, they said.
The boat was carrying miners, traders and some Nigerien nationals.