150 Passengers involved In Boat mishap on River Niger!

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.

Photo: Aerial View Images Of Flooding Around River Niger In Lokoja

The images were released by the National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA, and shows the extent of the flooding in the city caused by the overflowing River Niger, which is virtually cutting off the Northern part of the country from the South.

A lot of small villages in Lokoja and Kogi will soon be wiped out if nothing is done soon. The flooding has left many dead, thousands homeless, and movement from one place to the other impossible.

The flooding started about two weeks ago after Cameroon released water from the Lagdo Dam.

The minister of works said that the level of water seen in the past two weeks has not been seen in the last 100 years.