No fewer than 100 persons are missing from the boat mishap that occurred near Corner Libata Ingaski, a border town between Kebbi and Niger.
Alhaji Ahmed Inga, Director-General of the Niger State Emergency Management Agency (NSEMA) confirmed this to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Minna on Wednesday.
The passengers, believed to be mainly women and children, were traveling from Niger to Kebbi on Wednesday morning when the vessel capsized.
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He said the agency received a report of a boat mishap that occurred around 8 a.m, adding that the boat was said to have taken off at Loko Minna in Niger, by 7:30 a.m.
Inag said that the boat was carrying more than180 passengers and most of the passengers were from Kebbi heading to a market.
He said the cause of the accident was as a result of overloading and the old age of the boat.
The director-general said more than 20 people had been rescued and four bodies recovered.
He said that the search and rescue operation was ongoing by the Marine police and other agencies.
Wara resident Qasimu Umar Wara said locals expected more people to wash to shore in the coming days.
“The boat was overloaded,” Qasimu Wara told Reuters news agency. “My brother is among the missing. This is the worst boat accident that has happened in this water.”
He said most of the passengers were returning from a newly-discovered gold vein in neighboring Niger. The Wara resident said most of the people who take the boat travel in the evening and return in the mornings.
“Most of them are petty traders, food vendors and the local miners,” he added.
Boats capsize fairly regularly in Nigerian and Nigerien waters because of overcrowding and a lack of maintenance, especially during the annual rainy season.
Earlier this month 30 people drowned when an overloaded boat broke apart in central Niger. The boat broke in two after hitting a stump during a storm, according to emergency officials.
