Forty persons, 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.
An eyewitness who confirmed the incident in Kano said the incident occurred yesterday around 6pm.
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.
In 2007 several passengers also lost their lives in similar incidents in the local government.
When contacted, 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.
“More 49 persons were in the boat which was on its way to Bagwai town from Badau village when the incident happened”, he said. – Thisday.
