Around 40 children have died after an overloaded boat capsized in northwestern Nigeria’s Sokoto state, officials said on Thursday, as local divers continued searching for more victims.
Abdulkadir Yusuf, an area manager with Nigeria’s National Inland Waterways Authority, said about 40 bodies of children had been recovered following the accident.
“I can confirm that so far around 40 corpses of children have been recovered,” Yusuf said.
The boat overturned on Thursday morning while carrying passengers travelling to rice fields, where they were heading either to plant or harvest crops, according to Sarkin Daji, a traditional leader in the area.
Local resident Nasiru Gorau said community divers had been leading recovery efforts at the scene.
“Our local divers recovered the bodies and the search is still ongoing,” he said.
It was not immediately clear how many people had been aboard the vessel or whether additional passengers remained missing.
Boat accidents are frequent in parts of Nigeria, particularly in rural communities where waterways are an important means of transport. Overcrowding, poor maintenance and inadequate enforcement of safety rules are regularly cited as contributing factors.
In January, at least 25 people were killed when a leaking passenger boat capsized in northeastern Yobe state.