At least 26 dead in Nigeria wooden boat mishap

The incident occurred Tuesday evening on the Shagari River near the Gidan-Magana village of the Shagari local government area of the state, said Aliyu Dantani, head official of the local government area

At least 26 bodies have been recovered so far after a wooden boat capsized in a river in Nigeria's northwestern state of Sokoto, local authorities said on Wednesday.

The incident occurred Tuesday evening on the Shagari River near the Gidan-Magana village of the Shagari local government area of the state, said Aliyu Dantani, head official of the local government area, while addressing reporters on the boat accident.

Dantani said the victims, mostly women, were crossing the water on the canoe, heading to a nearby village called Badiyawa, when it hit a tree and capsized.

According to him, of the 26 recovered bodies in the ongoing search and rescue operation, 21 were women while five were children.

He said the actual number of passengers in the boat could not be immediately ascertained.

"Right now, local divers are in the river to see how to either recover more bodies or rescue survivors," he added.

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