At least 24 people have died and dozens more are missing in the sinking on Sunday of a boat carrying peasants to their fields in central Nigeria on Sunday 10 September.
The boat was carrying more than a hundred peasants crossing the Niger River to go to their crops located on the other side, in the State of Niger, when the boat capsized, aindiqué in a statement Garba Salihu, the head of the Relief Management Agency of that State.
“At this point, 24 bodies were found and 30 people were rescued,” he said. More than 100 people were to be on board when the sinking occurred,’ he added. The causes of the accident were not specified.
Operations continued to find missing passengers, he said.
On Friday, ten people drowned and three were reported missing when a boat with 23 passengers
Amin Suleiman, the local head of the Relief Management Agency, told AFP that he had capsized on Lake Njuwa in Adamawa State (north).
Shipwrecks of boats in Nigeria on rivers, very borrowed, are frequent. They are usually due to overloaded boats, poor maintenance or non-compliance with safety rules.
