The office of the Governor of Kwara, Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq, has issued a statement in which they offer their condolences to the families of those who have been slain and indicate that the Governor “continues to monitor the rescue efforts already mounted since Monday night in search of possible survivors.”
An overloaded boat that was returning from a wedding in northern Nigeria sank, taking the lives of up to 103 persons, including children. The boat was carrying too many people. Reports indicate that rescue activities are currently taking place while locals of Pategi and members of the police force are still searching for scores of people who were on an overcrowded boat that sank early on Monday morning on the Niger River in the Pategi area of the state of Kwara.
Okasanmi Ajayi, a spokesman for the police department, confirmed to a news organisation that 100 individuals have been saved so far. When it sank on Monday night, local villagers reported the wooden boat had been carrying people across a river to the state of Kwara from the adjoining state of Niger, where a wedding ceremony had taken place earlier in the day.
The governor of the state of Kwara issued a statement saying that the victims were from five different villages and that search and rescue operations for possible survivors were still ongoing.
In the statement, the governor of Kwara state expressed his grief “on the devastating news of a boat mishap in which dozens of people were feared killed and many others are still missing.”
“The majority of those who drowned were relatives from several villages who attended the wedding together and partied late into the night,” Abdul Gana Lukpada, a local chief, said. “Most of those who drowned were relatives from several villages.” “They rode motorcycles to the ceremony, but because of the heavy rain, the road was flooded, so they had to leave on the boat that was built in the area,” he explained.
According to him, all of the bodies that had been collected up to this point had been buried, the majority of them near the river, by Tuesday evening in accordance with the traditions of the local people.
The office of the Governor of Kwara, Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq, has issued a statement in which they offer their condolences to the families of those who have been slain and indicate that the Governor “continues to monitor the rescue efforts already mounted since Monday night in search of possible survivors.”
Accidents on the water are not uncommon in Nigeria’s most rural regions, especially in locations where locally crafted boats are frequently utilised for transportation. The majority of mishaps can be traced back to overloading the boats and using vessels that have not been properly maintained.