No fewer than 26 passengers were reported to have died and 30 others rescued after a wooden boat capsized on the waterways in Niger State.
Among the deceased were children and women that died after they drowned between Jebba and Kainji dam in Mokwa Local Government Area of the state.
The victims, who were said to be from Gbajibo, Ekwa and Yankyade communities, were reportedly going for farming activities when the tragic incident occurred around, on Sunday evening.
Residents narrated that the passengers including women and children left their communities to the Old Gbajibo capsized.
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It was learnt that the causalities would have increased by the intervention a combined rescue operation by marine police and local divers in collaboration with Niger State Emergency Management Agency reduced it.
The Niger State Governor, Umaru Bago, who confirmed the casualties figure, expressed shock over the accident.
Bago, in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Bologi Ibrahim, described the incident as terrible and undesirable.
According to him, “This is quite a shocking and sorrowful situation to the people of the affected communities and I share in their sorrow. I pray that Allah will grant the deceased Aljannah Firdausi”.
While commiserating with the families of the victims, the Governor directed the Niger State Emergency Management Agency (NSEMA), to do the needful to ameliorate the sufferings of the people.
The governor also prayed that Allah would comfort the families of the deceased and grant quick recovery to those injured.
He, however, reiterated the importance of the use of life jackets when boarding a boat and for people to desist from overcrowding boats.
