There are confirmed reports that 42 people were yesterday involved in a boat mishap on River Niger close to Malilli village in Borgu Local Government Area of Niger when traders were returning from Malilli Village to Tunga Illo village, after the day’s market.
The boat which had over 150 passengers capsized midway and drowned 42 people, while 100 others were missing. Local divers helped in recovering the corpses and are still looking for more. The Secretary to the State Government who confirmed the incident said; ''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. The debris in the swollen river may also have been responsible for the incident''
The recovered corpses would be given a mass burial close to the river bank and neighboring villages have also been alerted to look out for floating corpses.
A wooden boat carrying 166 people from southeastern Nigeria capsized about 40 nautical miles off the coast, with only two known survivors, emergency services and local traders said on Tuesday.
The boat left on Friday from the remote town of Oron, in Cross Rivers state, across the Gulf of Guinea and was heading to Gabon, in central Africa, traders said.
David Akate, head of Cross Rivers emergency services, confirmed the incident but said he had no death toll yet.
He added that the two known survivors were a young boy and a woman who had clung to a gas cylinder and were rescued by fishermen.
"They are mostly Igbo traders from the southeast who headed to Oron to board the wooden boat because it was cheaper," said Ikechukwu Egwu, a marine transporter in the area.
Boat accidents are relatively common in Africa, where safety standards are poor. As many as 138 people died when an overloaded boat carrying passengers and goods capsized in rough water on a river in Democratic Republic of Congo in 2010.
Some 35 people taking this route from Nigeria to Gabon died after their boat sunk off the coast of Cameroon in 2008.
