Boat Accident in Nigeria Claims 27 Lives

By: Chioma Madonna Ndukwu

Boat Accident in Nigeria Claims 27 Lives

Twenty-seven people have been confirmed dead after a boat carrying over 130 passengers capsized on Kainji Lake in Niger State.

The accident happened on Tuesday morning at Gausawa, along the Malale–Kainji Lake route in Borgu Local Government Area. According to witnesses, the boat went down around 11:49 a.m., while the National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) rescue team arrived at the scene less than two hours later.

The wooden vessel, which had about 138 passengers on board, sank along the Shagunu–Dunga stretch of the lake. NIWA reported that 46 men, 58 women, and an unknown number of children were rescued with life jackets.

So far, 27 bodies have been recovered — eight on the first day of the search and 19 the following day. Officials said the wreck has been removed but rescue operations are still in progress.

Akapo Adeboye, NIWA’s Niger-Kwara Area Manager, explained that the operation was coordinated by the agency’s New Bussa Substation, with support from river marshals, security agencies, community leaders, and the Nigerian Shipowners Forum on Waterways.

The accident adds to a rising number of deadly boat mishaps in Nigeria. In August, more than 40 passengers went missing after a boat overturned in Sokoto.

That same month, 16 farmers drowned in another canoe disaster in Sokoto, while six schoolgirls died in a separate incident in Jigawa. Days earlier, 13 lives were lost in a similar crash in Niger State.

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Chioma Ndukwu

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