NIGERIA – More than 100 people are missing in Nigeria, after a boat carrying mostly women and children capsized in Niger State in the country’s north, authorities have said. The locally made wooden boat, with a capacity of 100 passengers, had about 300 people on board when it overturned in the rural Mokwa district, an emergency official said on Wednesday.

The vessel sank in the Niger River on Tuesday night at about 8:30pm (19:30 GMT), said Abdullahi Baba-Arah, the director general of Niger State Emergency Management Agency (NSEMA). The passengers were returning from an Islamic religious festival when the incident occurred. Rescue workers and volunteers from Mokwa local government area had rescued 150 people, Babah-Arah said early on Wednesday.

“The search and rescue operation is still ongoing to locate more survivors,” the NSEMA head added in a statement. Later in the day, Nigerian news outlet Punch quoted Babah-Arah saying that nine bodies had been recovered. “Nine corpses have been recovered in the Gbajibo boat accident. Two females and seven men,” Baba-Arah said in an update, the publication reported. Local outlet Vanguard News cited a news release from the Council Chairman of Mokwa local government, saying dozens of bodies were recovered. “Council Chairman Abdullahi Muregi acknowledged the recovery of approximately 60 bodies, while 10 survivors have been found,” Vanguard reported. (Aljazeera)…[+]