A boat carrying passengers to a market in Cameroon’s flood-hit Far North region capsized on Thursday, killing at least 18 people, a local official reported.
The wooden vessel overturned near Darak, an island in the Lake Chad Basin, as violent winds struck. Search teams have recovered 18 bodies, but the total number onboard remains unclear, said Mamat Zarma, Darak’s divisional officer.
Recent heavy rains in West and Central Africa have caused severe flooding, forcing communities to rely on overcrowded boats for transport. Similar accidents have claimed multiple lives, including one earlier this month in nearby Goulfey.
Flooding across the region has killed over 1,520 people and affected 7.2 million, per U.N. data.