LagoscTypeface:> At least 45 people have died in a river boat accident in Nigeria, authorities said.
The wooden boat sank on Saturday morning on a river near the town of Gummi in the northern state of Zamfara, Hassan Dauran, the director of the state’s disaster management agency, told DPA on Sunday.
Ten passengers were rescued, he said, but the total number of people on board remained unclear on Sunday, according to Dauran.
The boat was overloaded with farm goods when it capsized.
Boat accidents frequently occur in Africa’s most populous country, which has around 220 million people.
They can usually be attributed to overcrowding, poor conditions on the boats and a lack of safety precautions. Simple wooden vessels are often used to transport people, animals and goods. (DPA)