Sixteen passengers are feared to have died after an overloaded boat capsized in northern Nigeria, according to rescue officials. The tragic incident occurred on Sunday morning as a wooden canoe, carrying farmers to their rice fields, overturned in a river in Sokoto state.
The boat, which departed from Dundaye village around 0900 GMT, was carrying 36 people, far beyond its intended capacity of 15. Among the passengers were men, women, and children. So far, one body has been recovered, while 16 others remain missing. The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) reported that 19 passengers survived the accident.
“It has been almost a day since the boat capsized, and it is now believed that those still missing have perished,” said Aliyu Shehu Kafindangiya, NEMA’s regional head, in a statement to AFP. “The focus now is on retrieving the bodies from the river.”
Around 30 divers and local fishermen have joined the search efforts, hoping to recover the remaining bodies. Nasiru Garba Kalambaina, the disaster and emergency adviser to the Sokoto state governor, attributed the accident to the boat’s severe overloading, which caused it to capsize midstream.
Boat accidents are common on Nigeria’s poorly regulated waterways, often due to overcrowding and lack of maintenance, particularly during the rainy season when rivers and lakes overflow. Just days earlier, on Thursday, another boat capsized in the Gamoda River in northern Jigawa state, leading to the drowning of 15 farmers.
