TheCable

At least six persons have been confirmed dead after a boat capsized in the Gbara area of Mokwa LGA in Niger state.

In a statement on Saturday, the Niger State Emergency Management Agency (NSEMA) said five persons are still missing.

According to the statement, the incident occurred on Friday evening when the boat, which was conveying 48 passengers, was returning from Danchitagi village market in Lavun LGA to Gbara village.

NSEMA attributed the incident to heavy downpour which was accompanied by windstorm.

“NSEMA has received a report of boat mishap that occurred yesterday evening around 6:30pm at Gbara area of Mokwa LGA (River Kaduna),” the statement reads.

“The boat, which took off from Lanchikagi village of Lavun LGA, was heading to Gbara village. There were 48 passengers on board and they were said to be returning from Danchitagi village market (Lavun LGA) which comes up every Friday.

“As at the time of filing this report, 37 persons survived, 6 dead bodies were recovered and 5 persons still missing.

“The cause of the incident was as a result of heavy downpour which was accompanied by violent windstorm. Meanwhile, search and rescue operations are still ongoing.”

Like several other states in the country, Niger has experienced flooding in recent weeks.

Days ago, 18 persons were confirmed to have been killed across LGAs in the state as a result of flood.

A total of 49,953 persons were also said to have been affected across 15 internally displaced persons (IDP) camps in the state.