Ismail Adebayo, Birnin Kebbi
No fewer than 40 people are feared dead in a boat accident on River Niger in Yauri Local Government Area of Kebbi State.
It was gathered that the boat with 50 traders and their goods had taken off from Kasabo village and were heading for Yauri town for commercial activities on Monday when the boat was struck by strong waves and capsized.
10 people were said to have been rescued alive by local divers while 40 other were still missing.
The incident added to the growing number of lives lost to boat accidents across the country in recent times.
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Daily Trust had reported in September that no fewer than 936 people died in different boat accidents in the last three and half years, largely due to unregulated waterways.
Our correspondent learnt that six corpses had been recovered from the river in Kebbi as of 1pm on Tuesday.
The Chairman of Yauri Local Government, Alhaji Bala Mohammed, who confirmed the number of victims to Daily Trust, said “rescue workers are still searching for the missing victims.”
While on condolence visit to Yauri on Monday, Governor Nasiru Idris prayed for quick recovery of those who sustained injuries and prayed to Allah to put an end to recurence of the incident.
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