A boat capsized overnight from Sunday to Monday in northern Nigeria, killing a hundred people on board, local police told the AP news agency, taken over by our colleagues from guardian.
“What we understood is that a boat capsized and around 100 people died,” said Okasanmi Ajayi, a police spokesman.
The death toll could be even higher, as Abdul Gana Lukpada, a traditional Kpada leader in the state where the ship sank, told CNN that hundreds of people, “up to 300,” were on board and only 53 survived. to tragedy.
Investigation still ongoing
According to initial information, the victims, including the children, attended a nightly wedding in the village of Ebgoti and returned to their various communities. Then, early Monday morning, the ship sank in the Niger River.
“The people on the boat had to take their bikes to their different communities. The boat was carrying more than 100 people when it sank,” resident Usman Ibrahim told the news agency.
The traditional leader Abdul Gana Lukpada assured him that the boat had hit a tree trunk and “split in two”.
Searches are still underway to find survivors or bodies in the river.
Source: BFM TV
