52 bodies, including 11 family members, were buried following a boat accident at Gorau town, Goronyo Local Government Area of Sokoto State.
The boat was carrying farmers and labourers to their rice crops when it capsized while crossing a river at about 8:30 am on Wednesday, Daily Trust reports.
Reports say there were more than 70 individuals on board, including several youngsters, most of them girls.
The Head of Operations of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Sokoto, Alhaji Tukur Abubakar, said the agency has not yet been able to establish the precise number of victims.
He said, however, that 52 dead have been buried thus far.
“We will meet the officials of the sister agency and the local government officials to know the exact number of the victims,” he said.
Abubakar said he will give further specifics following the meeting.
Abdullahi Ghani, spokesman for the Sokoto State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), said officials are on the ground analysing the situation and working to identify the precise number of people affected.
All the concerned authorities are there to examine the situation and know the precise number of the affected persons,” he said. “No official data yet,” said the agency.
At the time of reporting this article, rescue activities were still ongoing as local divers and people combed the water for those still missing.
How I survived – Village chief
The village head of Gorau, Malam Aliyu Na-Batsami, claimed the boat which was carrying more than 70 passengers, capsized after reaching the center of the stream.
“There were around 70 of us in the boat. Most of us were farmers, we would go out to work on our farms. “There were children among us too, mostly girls,” he claimed.
Na-Batsami, who survived the catastrophe, said he had difficulty staying afloat when the boat overturned, before he grabbed a sack that floated to the surface.
“By the grace of God, some people who had gone into the water finally managed to rescue me,” he claimed.
He stated it was the first boat disaster to have been documented in his area, but it had resulted in a massive loss of life.
One family had lost 11 children. “But I did not lose anyone from my household because my children had already crossed the river before the incident,” he stated.
The village leader said he remained behind to look after communal affairs including naming ceremonies and settling disagreements before heading to the property.
One of the residents, who was involved in the rescue operation, Mallam Ya’u ECG, told our correspondent that the boat had a malfunction immediately after leaving the coast and capsized with the people on board.
Another local, Usman Yusuf Shanka, said he lost the wife of his younger brother, Jamila Aminu, and her two children, Yasir Aminu and Sani Aminu.
He also mentioned another child in the family, Umar Muhammad, as one of the dead.
He called on the government to move quickly to provide a safer method of transportation for farmers who regularly cross the dam to reach their farms.
We are asking on the government to do something about the dam by providing a safer means of crossing, including building a bridge, since farmers have to pass through this place to reach their crops’, he said.
Another man, Attahiru Iliyasu, who helped in the rescue effort, stated some of his family were among the dead including his nephew,
Overload blamed by lawmaker
The member representing Goronyo seat in the Sokoto State House of Assembly, Nasiru Adamu, blamed the disaster on overloading.
The operator had told him he tried to tell the passengers not to overfill the boat but they would not listen to him, he said.
Adamu added that when they asked him why he allowed over 70 people on the boat, he told them that he tried to stop the mob from overloading the boat but they refused to listen to his directions.
He encouraged citizens to be careful when using waterways and to not overcrowd vessels.
“There was a similar accident last year in a place called Kojo in Goronyo where many lives were lost,” he claimed.
This recent incident comes on the heels of an earlier intervention by the Sokoto State Government to enhance safety in riverine villages across the state.
Last year, the government donated 20 motorised boats and 2,000 life jackets to communities who rely heavily on waterways to transport and access crops, markets and adjoining settlements.
Governor Ahmed Aliyu stated the action was to protect the lives and property of communities that depend on waterways for their everyday activities during a ceremony at Dundaye village, Wamakko Local Government Area where the distribution was done.
Aliyu stated that the intervention was necessitated by the concerns raised about the issue of boat accdients in some sections of the state which had led to loss of lives and destruction of property.
The governor also warned boat operators against overloading and charged chairmen of beneficiary local government areas to oversee appropriate upkeep and security of the boats.
However, Adamu, who represents Goronyo Constituency, said the intervention had not gotten to the people of Gorau.
He stated: “Gorau had not received the engine-powered boats and life jackets which the Sokoto State Government was said to have bought and distributed to communities along waterways.”
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