A BOAT carrying about 200 passengers, including market women capsised on Friday, November 29, along the River Niger in Kogi State, leaving scores feared dead, according to the National Inland Waterways (NIWA).
While confirming the incident to Punch Newspaper, the NIWA’s head of the Media Department, Suleman Makama, said the 200 passengers on board the boat were feared dead.
But reports have so far indicated that only eight bodies have been recovered.
The women were on their way to the market in Niger Friday morning, riding on a boat when it capsized along the Dambo-Ebuchi sections of River Niger.
Eyewitnesses quoted by Daily Trust, said the boat belonged to one Musa Dangana, noting that the boat developed a fault and sank shortly after it took off from a local jetty in the community.
This latest mishap came a few hours after 22 passengers were confirmed dead in a boat mishap by the Niger State Emergency Management.
According to a statement by the director-general of NSEMA, Abdullahi Baba-Arah, the boat was sailing from Ebe Community in Kogi State with about 50 passengers on board and heading to Katcha Market when the incident occurred at about 2.00 a.m. on Thursday.
Baba-Arah stated that 22 bodies had been recovered while eight persons were rescued alive.
The ICIR reports that deaths arising from boat accidents have been rampant in the past few months in Nigeria.
The ICIR reported in September that the presidency confirmed that over 40 farmers died in a boat accident in Gummi Local Government Area of Zamfara State.
The accident occurred in the early hours of Saturday, September 14, in Gummi town when the farmers were reportedly going to their farms.
Usman Mustapha is a solution journalist with International Centre for Investigative Reporting. You can easily reach him via: umustapha@icirnigeria.com. He tweets @UsmanMustapha_M