BY PRINCELY ONYENWE,IMO
Tijana village in Munya local government area of Niger state experienced a shock early hours saturday when a boat suspectedly carrying over loaded passengers capsized killing 28 persons and 65 persons were rescued.
Our source told 9News Nigeria that the passengers were said to be returning from Zumba which is a popular fish market in Shiroro Local government area of the state when the boat believed to have been overloaded capsized.
Few hours after the incident, local divers swung to action and recovered the bodies of both the dead and the survivals.
It was gathered that the boat was carrying about 100 people mostly women and children.
The journey from the take-off to the final destination is estimated to be about two hours but capsized midway into the journey around 6:00pm on saturday.
Confirming the incident, the Sarkin Kasuwan (Head of the Market) Zumba, Mallam Adamu Ahmed said that about 28 to 30 dead bodies have been recovered and many are alive.
“The boat is just about six months old but a heavy windstorm in the area on Saturday and probably overloading must have led to the capsized and the extent of fatality.
He however stated that the people mostly involved were some villagers who had earlier fled their homes with their children due to bandits attacks.
According to Mallam Adamu “some of the victims were going back to their creeks in Munya local government to go and get some food items and return back to Zumba where they are temporarily taking refuge as a result of bandits activities in the affected communities.
The victims are said to be from about seven communities in Munya local government where they have been sacked by bandits in the past few weeks.
When contacted, the Director-General State Emergency Management Agency, Mallam Ahmed INGA told our reporter that the actual number of people that were on board the capsized boat were not less than 100.
While local divers have intensified search for the remaining passengers,28 were Confirmed dead at the river side while the survivals are taking medical attention.
It was indeed a terrible accident on the river of Niger state NIGERIA.
9News Nigeria (Owerri)
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