A boat mishap has occurred on the River Niger close to Malilli
village in Borgu Local Government Area of Niger State, claiming no fewer
than 42 lives. It was gathered that the 42 were passengers on board the
ill-fated boat drowned, while 100 others have been declared missing.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the mishap occurred
about 2 pm last Friday, quoting the Public Relations Officer, Niger
State Emergency Management Agency, Malam Ibrahim Hussaini as confirming
the incident in a telephone interview yesterday.
Hussaini said the incident occurred about 2 pm when the traders were
returning from Malili village to Tunga Illo village across the River
Niger, after the day’s market. He said the details were sketchy, but the
boat, which had over 150 passengers on board capsized midway. The SEMA
spokesman said local divers from Malili village had recovered 42
corpses, while efforts were being intensified to rescue possible
survivors or retrieve corpses of those who drowned.
“At the moment search and rescue is ongoing on the river. I will give
the details of the incident later, but the agency has dispatched its
officers to assist the villagers in the rescue efforts,” he said.
Hussaini said the recovered corpses would be given mass burial close
to the river bank, adding that neighbouring villages had been alerted to
look out for floating corpses. The Secretary to the State Government,
Alhaji Saidu Ndako, also confirmed the boat mishap.
“I received the information late in the night that a boat had
capsized and 42 persons have drowned in the incident, while rescue
operation is ongoing. “We believe that the boat was overloaded because
the boat’s capacity was put at 60 passengers, but over 150 passengers
were said to be on board during the incident.
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