No fewer than 53 traders were feared dead in a boat accident on River Niger in Bagudo, Kebbi State.
The Chairman of the Bagudo Local Government Council, Alhaji Muhammad Zagga, told the News Agency of Nigeria in a telephone interview that the traders were on the way to a market when the accident occurred.
Zagga said: “Majority of the traders are from Gaya Village in Niger Republic.
“They were going to a market in Lolo when their boat capsized.”
Zagga said out of about 100 passengers on board the boat, 47 were rescued.
The others could not yet be accounted for.
The chairman said the authorities in Niger Republic had deployed 500 divers to search for the missing people.
The Acting Director-General of Kebbi State Emergency Management Agency, Alhaji Abbas Rabi’u, described the incident as unfortunate and disastrous.
“The victims were mostly traders from Niger Republic,” Rabi’u said.
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