A boat capsized in Nigeria, killing at least 103 people returning from a wedding
A boat on the Niger River, transporting hundreds of people after a wedding, capsized with over 100 dead on Monday.
The New York Times reported that the death toll from the incident was 103 on Tuesday but is likely to increase, as the search is still ongoing.
“The boat capsized in complete darkness and it wasn’t until hours later that we were alerted,” police spokesman Okasanmi Ajayi said, according to The New York Times.
Related
What happened? Abdul Gana Lukpada, a traditional chief in Kpada, told CNN that “there was a marriage ceremony in a nearby village ... Egboti village which is by the river Niger. The terrain of the community is terrible when it rains. After the ceremony, it rained, so those who attended with motorcycles could not ride the motorcycles out of the community. They decided to use a big boat to convey people out of Egboti.”
Lukpada continued, “The boat was filled with up to 300 people — both males and females from various communities. It was early on Monday between 3-4 a.m. As they sailed, the boat hit a tree branch hiding in the water and it split into two. The volume of water was high, so it carried the passengers away. I’ve been informed that only 53 escaped. The rest are feared dead.”
Related
Details to note: The incident happened at 3 a.m. Monday, and “it was not immediately clear if there were survivors,” according to NBC News.
“We lost a lot of people, including women and children,” Ibrahim Hassan, resident of the village Ebbu, said. “Our community will never be the same again.”
Reuters reported that a Kwara state police spokesperson, Ajayi Okasanmi, said, “The names of survivors will be made public as soon as they are available.”
