At least 60 people died and dozens are missing as a result of the sinking of a vessel on Tuesday night on the Niger River, in the state of the same name, in central-western Nigeria, the Nigerian press reported today.
The vessel, with around 300 passengers, had left the city of Mundi and was heading to Gbajibo for the Maulid religious festival, which celebrates the birth anniversary of the Prophet Muhammad, and sank on Tuesday night for reasons still unknown.
Emergency services have confirmed just 150 survivors, while the number of bodies recovered now stands at 60, according to sources cited by the Nigerian daily Guardian.
Authorities are trying to locate the missing, so the death toll is not definitive.
Accidents, often caused by overloaded vessels and poor shipping regulation, are common in Nigeria.
This type of accident is common on the Niger River, where more than 100 people died on June 12, 2023 when a vessel capsized.
On September 14, at least 41 people died in another shipwreck in the northwestern state of Zamfara, according to eyewitnesses and local authorities.
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