A boat sailing on the Niger River in northern Nigeria capsized. At the time, there were about 200 passengers. At least 27 people were killed and more than 100 are missing. Local authorities say most of them are women.
A spokesperson for the Nigeria Emergency Management Agency told The Associated Press that the ship was headed from Kogi state to Niger state. There were about 200 passengers, mostly women, on board the boat when it capsized.
By Friday evening, rescuers had managed to pull 27 bodies from the river. More than 100 people are still missing at the crash site, and divers are continuing to search for them.
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– About 12 hours after the incident, no survivors have been found – Kogi State Emergency Services spokesperson Sandra Mousie said.
Ship accident in Niger. Was the boat overloaded?
It is likely that the purpose of the cruise was to take people to food markets. Authorities have not announced the cause of the tragedy, but local media have suggested the boat may have been overloaded.
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The exact number of passengers traveling on the ship is unknown as passenger manifests are not kept on this type of cruise. The Kogi State Governor's Office issued a statement deploring the disaster.
This was a special tragedy underlined by the fact that “most of the passengers were women, small traders, and artisans engaged in legitimate activities to earn a living.”
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