Kano: According to police and local authorities, more than 100 people have perished in north central Nigeria after a boat carrying families leaving a wedding capsized in a river.
It was the most recent boat tragedy in Nigeria, where river capsizes are frequent due to overloading, lax safety procedures, and significant flooding during the rainy season. Details about the accident in Kwara State were still coming to light.
Local police and the Kwara governor's office said on Tuesday that the boat was transporting people from a wedding in neighbouring Niger State when it capsized. They did not provide further details.
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Okasanmi Ajayi, a spokesman for the Kwara State police, told AFP over the phone that "so far we have 103 people dead and over 100 people rescued from the boat accident."
"Search and rescue efforts are still ongoing, so the death toll is probably going to go up."
The victims, according to the governor's office for Kwara State, were on their way back from a wedding ceremony in the Patigi district of Kwara.
The statement read, "The governor is saddened to hear reports of the boat accident involving several people, especially residents of Ebu, Dzakan, Kpada, Kuchalu, and Sampi, all in Patigi."
"The governor offers the residents of these communities his sincere condolences. According to the statement, the governor was keeping an eye on the rescue operations that had been launched on Monday night to look for potential survivors.
In an effort to save as many people as possible who might have survived the accident, "He commends the alertness of (traditional ruler) the Etsu Patigi His Royal Highness AlHajji Ibrahim Umar Bologi II and other local government authorities."
Unfortunately, such river accidents happen frequently in Nigeria.
In northwest Sokoto State last month, 15 children drowned and 25 others went missing when their overloaded boat capsized while they were en route to gather firewood.
Another 29 kids from a nearby village drowned in the same river almost exactly a year prior while going to gather firewood for their families.
In southeast Anambra State, during severe flooding during the rainy season last December, at least 76 people perished when their boat capsized in a swollen river.
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In Nigeria, river boat transportation for trade and transportation is common due to poor road infrastructure and kidnapping for ransom as a significant problem along some highways.
The Niger River, which flows through Guinea and into Nigeria's Niger Delta in a crescent shape, is the main waterway in West Africa and an important trade route for some nations.
Although Nigeria's National Inland Waterways Authority has attempted to outlaw nighttime river sailing and has made overloading ships a criminal offence, skippers and crews frequently flout the rules.
