Boat Mishap Claims 10 Lives in Niger

Boat Mishap Claims 10 Lives in Niger

Laleye Dipo in Minna

No fewer than 10 people were confirmed dead in a boat mishap, which occurred on the River Shiroro in Niger State on Wednesday evening.

The bodies of two of the victims were recovered while seven others were yet to be found.

This latest incident is coming about two months after five people were killed in a similar boat mishap, while trying to escape from armed bandits in Gurmana town in the same Shiroro Local Government Area of the state.

It was learnt that Wednesday’s accident occured when the victims were returning from their farms in Kudumi village after harvesting some of their agricultural produce.

Eyewitnesses said some 19 people were on board the canoe, which was also conveying several bags of newly harvested rice and tubers of yam.

According to the report the farmers ran into stormy weather, which made the boat to capsize.

Divers were said to have rushed to rescue the traders but only seven of them were brought out alive.

The Director General of the Niger State Emergency Management Agency (NSEMA), Alhaji Ibrahim Ahmed Inga when contacted confirmed the incident.

Inga said the remains of those that died have been buried while the search for others would continue.

He sympathised with the families of those that died and prayed for the repose of the souls of the departed.

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