The death toll from a shipwreck on the Niger River is over 150 people missing. The river ship, which was carrying around 180 people and many sandbags destined for a gold mine, capsized in the river as it passed through Kebbi State in northwestern Nigeria. He was traveling from Lokon Minna in Niger to Wara in Kebbi. Rescuers managed to save 22 people, transported to the hospital. But the ship, according to witnesses, was overloaded: the capacity was 80 people and there were also the heavy sandbags. “The capacity of the boat was not up to the 180 passengers it was carrying,” local National Inland Waterways Authority official Yusuf Birma told reporters. “As we speak, only 20 people have been found alive – he explained – four deaths are confirmed, while another 156 people are still missing and are believed to have drowned”.
President Muhammadu Buhari said the incident was “devastating” and expressed his condolences to the families of the victims. Tragedies aboard boats are commonplace on Nigerian waterways, mainly due to overcrowding of boats, bad weather and lack of maintenance, but if confirmed, today’s toll is one of the most serious in recent times .
Birma reported that when the boat sank, passengers were on their way to a market in Malele, in the local government area of Borgu, Niger. “The boat involved was wooden and very old, but the sailors didn’t listen to us when we raised awareness to reduce the number of passengers,” he said.
Earlier this month, 30 people drowned when an overloaded boat capsized in the state of Niger. The boat carrying 100 local traders split in two after hitting a log during a storm on its way back from a local market. The Niger is the main river in West Africa that flows in a crescent through Guinea to Nigeria’s Niger Delta and is a key local trade route for some countries
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