By Babs Oyetoro, with agency report
More than 50 people, mostly children, have died after an overloaded boat capsized near Gorau in Goronyo Local Government Area of Sokoto State, with rescue teams and local divers continuing the search for victims.
The death toll rose as more bodies were recovered from the water, with Reuters reporting that at least 53 people had died and 46 victims had already been buried. About 16 passengers were reportedly rescued.
Abdulkadir Yusuf, an area manager with the National Inland Waterways Authority, confirmed the scale of the tragedy, saying about 40 bodies of children had initially been recovered.
“I can confirm that so far around 40 corpses of children have been recovered,” Yusuf said.
A lawmaker representing the area in the Sokoto State House of Assembly, Nasiru Adamu, earlier put the death toll at 43, with 16 people rescued, as recovery operations continued.
The boat reportedly capsized on Thursday morning while carrying passengers heading to farms in the Gorau area. The passengers included farm owners and labourers engaged in rice farming.
A traditional leader in the area, Sarkin Daji, said the passengers were travelling to either plant or harvest rice when the accident occurred.
Residents gave conflicting accounts of the number of passengers aboard the vessel. One resident said more than 70 people were on the boat, while another estimated the number at 57.
The Associated Press, citing officials and residents, reported that the vessel may have been carrying more than 80 passengers, many of them women and children.
The human toll became more apparent as bodies were brought ashore and taken to a community mosque in Gorau ahead of burial.
A resident, Samaila Garba, said his 13-year-old granddaughter, Jamila Usman, was among those killed. He said he personally counted 42 bodies, most of them women and children.
Another resident, Nasiru Gorau, said local divers were leading the recovery operation.
“Our local divers recovered the bodies, and the search is still ongoing,” he said.
Usman Yusuf, a community leader, also confirmed that dozens of victims had been buried as the search for those still missing continued. The exact number of passengers on the boat remained unclear.
Mustapha Umar, director of relief and rehabilitation at the Sokoto State Emergency Management Agency, said officials were heading to the scene to assess the situation and coordinate the emergency response.
The disaster has again exposed the dangers confronting passengers on Nigeria’s inland waterways, particularly in rural communities where boats remain an important means of reaching farms and markets.
Overloading, poor maintenance and inadequate enforcement of waterway safety regulations have repeatedly been linked to fatal boat accidents across the country. The latest tragedy occurred amid the rainy season, when difficult water conditions can further increase the risks.
Nigeria has recorded several deadly boat mishaps in recent years, prompting calls for stricter enforcement of passenger limits, mandatory use of life jackets, proper vessel inspections, and improved regulation of inland waterways.
The Sokoto tragedy also comes months after a boat accident in Yobe State in January in which at least 25 people were killed after a leaking vessel capsized.
The repeated disasters have intensified concerns over the safety of river transportation, particularly for poor rural communities whose residents depend on waterways to access farms, markets and other settlements.
For residents of Gorau, however, the immediate concern remains the recovery of those still missing and the identification and burial of the victims, many of whom were children.
Rescue efforts were still underway on Thursday evening, with local divers continuing to search the water as authorities worked to establish the final casualty figure.
