Eight dead in river boat capsizing in south-eastern Nigeria

Nigeria’s National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) reports that eight people were killed after a passenger boat capsized in the south-eastern state of Anambra on Sunday, January 7.

The unnamed wooden-hulled vessel was carrying over 50 passengers and was transiting the Niger River between Kogi state and Anambra when it capsized at around 07:00 local time on Sunday.

Rescuers have since pulled 38 survivors and the bodies of eight deceased individuals out of the river. The deceased included mainly women and small children.

Search operations are still ongoing in an attempt to locate and recover the bodies of other people who may have been on the boat when it capsized.

In a statement, NIWA said that the boat capsized after it struck some blockage in the river.

Local officials have begun an investigation into the tragedy, which is the second fatal passenger boat incident to occur in Anambra following an earlier mishap in late 2022.

On October 7 of that year, a boat carrying over 90 people who were fleeing rising flood waters capsized and sank in the state’s Ogbaru area. Then-President Muhammadu Buhari confirmed that 76 people perished in the incident.