Niger Boat Mishap:14 Bodies Recovered
Laleye Dipo in Minna
At least 14 Bodies out of the 150 passengers declared missing when a boat conveying 300 passengers capsized in the River Niger on Tuesday night have been recovered.
The bodies were recovered by local divers drafted to the river for Search and rescue operation.”
Initially, 150 passengers in the ill-fated boat were rescued.
The boat was said to be conveying it’s passengers from Mundi community in
Mokwa local government after they celebrated the religious festival of Maulud Nabiyyi at Gbajibo village.
It was claimed that a top religious leader from one of the communities in the area was in the capsized boat though the Public Relations Officer of the Niger State Emergency Management Agency NSEMA, Ibrahim Hussaini told ThISDAY that: ” For now we are not concerned about the calibre of people, what we are concerned about now is how to rescue those remaining from the river”.
It was however gathered that majority of those in the capsized boat were from Kwara state.
The Public Relations Officer of the N- Hydro Power Producing Areas Development Commission N-HYPPADEC, Alhaji Nura Tanko said officials of the Commission have been drafted from Bida to Mokwa to join in the rescue operation, adding that the Managing Director Alhaji Abubakar Sadiq Yelwa will be in Mokwa on Thursday to assess the situation.
The circumstances surrounding the accident are still unknown but it was believed to be associated with overloading.
The boat reportedly capsized at about 8.30pm on Tuesday upstream Jebba Dam on River Niger .
According to a statement by the Director General of the Niger State Emergency Management Agency NSEMA made available to newsmen on Wednesday morning (today), Alhaji Abdullahi Baba Arah, local divers have succeeded in rescuing 150 of the 300 passengers.
“Thanks to the prompt response from the community volunteers, over 150 persons have been rescued alive so far,” Baba Arah said, adding that: “The search and rescue operation are still ongoing to locate more survivors.”
“NSEMA is directing and monitoring search and rescue operations in collaboration with the State Ministry of Transport, and Mokwa Local Government Emergency Committee,” Baba Arah said.
