Urgent Search Efforts Underway for Missing Passengers after Nigerian Boat Capsizes

Authorities in northern Nigeria are mobilizing rescue teams to locate more than 40 missing boat passengers after an accident during a local market trip.

Rescue operations are in full swing in Sokoto state, northern Nigeria, where emergency services are frantically searching for over 40 individuals still unaccounted for following a tragic boat capsizing incident. The vessel, which was carrying more than 50 people to a local market, overturned in the River Goronyo on Sunday. According to officials from the National Emergency Management Agency (Nema), four survivors have been found, and efforts to locate the missing passengers are being escalated in collaboration with local authorities.

Sadly, boat accidents are common in Nigeria, often attributed to overcrowding, inadequate maintenance, and weak enforcement of safety protocols. Just last year, a similar calamity occurred when 54 bodies were retrieved from the River Niger after a boat carrying over 200 passengers capsized. This incident marked the third such disaster within a two-month span. In a particularly devastating case in November 2024, a wooden canoe carrying nearly 300 people capsized in the Niger River, resulting in almost 200 fatalities.

In a noteworthy incident from two years ago, after a wedding celebration, more than 100 individuals drowned when their boat, with around 300 passengers, sank while traveling between Kwara and Niger states. Despite regulations mandating the provision of life jackets for all passengers, many rural areas lack sufficient enforcement, resulting in a dire need for improved safety measures on waterways.

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