29 Confirmed Dead in Another Niger Boat Mishap

*50 Persons Rescued

Laleye Dipo in Minna

Another boat mishap, the second within 5 weeks, has occurred in Niger state taking the lives of 29 travelers.

The incident happened at Gausawa in Malale ward of Borgu local government area of the state.

According to reports, the accident occurred on Tuesday when the boat conveying 90 passengers ran into a tree stump and capsized.

It was learnt that search and rescue operators were able to rescue 50 passengers and recovered 29 corpses from the river.

Two other passengers were said to be missing.

The Director General of the Niger State Emergency Management Agency NSEMA Alhaji Abdullahi Baba Arah, when contacted confirmed the tragic incident.

Baba Arah said the boat took off from Tungan Sule in Shagunun ward of the local government and was heading to Dugga village.

Baba Arah added that the incident happened yesterday, 2nd September 2025 (Tuesday) at about 11:30am and the cause was attributed to overloading and collision with a tree stump.

He said “search and rescue operations” were still in progress” for possible recovery of the missing persons.

On July 27 this year, a similar accident occurred when a boat carrying 39 passengers from Guni to the weekly Zumba market across the River Kaduna capsized, resulting in the death of 13 passengers while 26 others were rescued.

Those that died in the accident were 8 women 3 men and 2 children.