At least 40 people, mostly women and children, were reported to have lost their lives in Badau village, Bagwai Local Government Area of Kano state following a boat mishap.
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An eyewitness who confirmed the incident said the occurred on Tuesday evening.
He explained that the boat capsized in the middle of the river while conveying passengers to Bagwai town from Badau village.
“The passengers were travelling to Bagwai town to attend the annual Mulud festival. The boat capsized due to overload, killing over 40 passengers, mostly women and children. Scores of others sustained various degrees of injuries. Very few passengers survived the incident,” the eye witness said.
It was gathered that the victims of the unfortunate incident died right inside the river because they could not swim to its bank and they were not wearing life jackets.
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In 2007 several passengers also lost their lives in similar incidents in the local government.
Efforts to contact the local government council chairman, Mr Inuwa Zangina proved abortive as of press time.
However, the spokesman of the state Fire Service, Mr. Saminu Yusuf Abdullahi confirmed the incident.
He said so far 20 corpses have been retrieved while seven people have also been rescued alive as the rescue operation was still ongoing.
Such accidents are often blamed on overloading and poor maintenance of the boats as well as a lack of proper regulation by the authorities.
At least seven girls drowned when a boat overturned in neighbouring Jigawa state barely two weeks ago.
In May, more than 100 people died in Kebbi state in a similar accident.
©ControlTV2021.
