47 dead as boat capsizes in Sokoto

n n

File image

n

Officials have told the Associated Press that 47 people died when a boat capsized in a river in Sokoto State on Thursday.

n

The boat was carrying people who were heading to farms for work in Gorau town in the Goronyo local government area of the state.

n

Abdulkadir Yusuf, Sokoto state manager at the National Inland Waterways Authority, said the death toll was 47 people “so far”.

n

Resident Samaila Garba, 55, said his 13-year-old granddaughter, Jamila Usman, was among those who died in the capsizing.

n

He said he had counted at least 42 bodies of victims, most of them women and children.

n

“You know, during the rainy season, most women and children go to the farm to work,” he told The Associated Press.

n

Another resident, Aminu Dan Hajiya, said he goes to his farm using the same waterway and he considers himself lucky to not have been on the boat.

n

“In fact, almost every household in the community has been affected,” he said.

n n