Mohammed Bago, the governor of Niger State, has expressed sorrow at the boat tragedy that occurred on Sunday and left several people dead in the state’s Mokwa Local Government Area.
He urged everyone boarding a boat in the state to wear life jackets and denounced packing too many people onto any boat that is about to set out on a journey.
While a joint rescue effort by marine police and local divers in partnership with Niger State Emergency Management Agency is ongoing, 24 individuals—mostly women and children—have been confirmed killed and over 30 people have been rescued.
In a statement released on Sunday, the governor, through his chief press secretary Bologi Ibrahim, called the accident both awful and unwelcome.
“I share the pain of the residents of the affected communities because this is a startling and tragic event. I want Allah to give the late Aljannah Firdausi,” the message said.
While expressing sympathy to the victims’ families, the governor gave the Niger State Emergency Management Agency instructions to take the necessary action to lessen the suffering of the populace.
Between 7:30 and 8:00 am, a boat accident was reported to have left a number of people missing.
It was discovered that the catastrophe had left the impacted towns in mourning as the locals looked for their loved ones.
As of the time this story was written, information on how many people really boarded the doomed boat was still hazy.
Despite reports from local sources that the passengers weren’t wearing life jackets at the time of the occurrence, the reason of the boat accident remained unknown.
In a telephone interview, Jibrim Muregi, the chairman of the Mokwa Local Government Area, acknowledged the disaster and stated that divers were working feverishly to recover more remains and rescue sufferers.
The incident happened in localities in Niger State’s Mokwa Local Government Area between the Jebba and Kainji dams.
NSEMA’s overseeing director-general, Alhaji Salihu Garba, said in a statement on Sunday that the organisation had received information about a boat accident and has subsequently hired divers to carry out search and rescue operations.
Search, rescue, and recovery activities are currently being carried out at the scene of the event by the agency, in coordination with the Mokwa LG authority and the community divers. As of now, 24 corpses have been discovered, but more than 30 people have been saved, according to him.
