At least 40 bodies, most of them children, have been recovered after an overloaded boat capsized on a river in Nigeria’s northwestern Sokoto state, officials and residents said on Thursday.
The accident happened near Gorau in the Goronyo local government area, and rescue operations were still under way.
Abdulkadir Yusuf, an area manager at the National Inland Waterways Authority, said the bodies of around 40 children had been found. Nasiru Adamu, a member of the Sokoto state legislature representing the area, put the toll at 43 with 16 people rescued, and said most of those on board were aged between 10 and 15.
Authorities had not issued an official death toll. A Reuters witness reported seeing 50 bodies, many wrapped in mats and traditional cloth, laid out in the forecourt of a mosque in Gorau ahead of burial. Residents said at least 46 bodies had been recovered.
One local resident said the boat had been carrying farm owners and labourers hired for the harvest.
A recurring toll
Boat accidents kill dozens of people every year on Nigeria’s rivers and waterways. Overloading, poor maintenance and disregard for safety rules are the causes most often cited, and passenger boats on rural routes frequently operate without life jackets or capacity limits.
Rivers remain the practical means of travel in parts of the northwest, where road links are sparse and farming communities move between fields and markets by water. Sokoto state was the site of a separate fatal capsizing in the same period last year.
