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No fewer than 40 women and children are feared dead after a canoe capsized in Ringim Local Government Area of Jigawa State.
The Jigawa State Police Command confirmed the incident yesterday, saying one body had been recovered while search and rescue operations were continuing for the remaining passengers.
In a statement on its official Facebook page, the command said emergency responders were working to recover those still missing.
“One of the bodies was recovered. Efforts to recover the remaining 39 are underway,” the police stated.
The Director of Planning at the Jigawa State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), Muhammad Sanusi, also confirmed the incident, saying the passengers were mainly female farmers and agricultural labourers travelling by canoe when the accident occurred.
According to him, the cause of the boat mishap has yet to be established, while emergency personnel, local divers and community volunteers have intensified search efforts in the area.
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“Hands are on deck as combined efforts continue to determine the exact number of those rescued or missing,” Sanusi said.
He added that authorities were still verifying the number of casualties and survivors as the rescue operation continued.
Boat accidents remain a recurring challenge in many parts of northern Nigeria, where rural communities depend heavily on rivers and other waterways for transportation and farming activities.
Safety experts have attributed many of the incidents to overloading, poor maintenance of boats, adverse weather conditions and the failure of passengers to wear life jackets.
Authorities have repeatedly urged operators and passengers to comply with established water transportation safety regulations to reduce the frequency of such tragedies.
