Passengers headed by river to Dugga, to attend a condolence visit before the ferry capsized, rescuers said
\n Niger
\nA crowded ferry boat has capsized in Nigeria\u2019s Niger State, drowning at least 32 people, rescuers said on Thursday, raising the toll from the country\u2019s latest fatal boat tragedy.
\nThe vessel, which had nearly 100 men, women and children on board, reportedly hit a tree stump.
\nIt capsized on Tuesday morning on the Malale River in the North Central region of the country, Red Cross representative Abubakar Idris told AFP.
\n\u201cThe cause was attributed to overloading and collision with a tree stump,\u201d the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) said.
\nRaising an earlier toll, SEMA said 32 people were known to have died.
\n\u201cAfter a thorough search and rescue operation, our men at Borgu (local district) have discovered three more bodies.
\n\u201cEight (people) are still missing and 50 survivors have been rescued,\u201d SEMA representative Abdullahi Baba Arah told AFP. Search operations are continuing, he added.
\nThe passengers were travelling by river to the village of Dugga, around 15-20 kilometres (nine to 12 miles) away to pay their respects to someone who had died a few days earlier, rescue services said.
\nIt reportedly hit the tree stump and capsized near the village of Gausawa.
\nAccidents are common on Nigeria\u2019s busy rivers, often caused by overloaded boats, poor maintenance or failure to comply with safety regulations.
\nIn late August, a boat carrying around 50 people overturned in the northwestern state of Sokoto, killing three people. Twenty-five others are missing, presumed dead.
\nA month earlier, six young girls drowned when the boat taking them home from a day\u2019s work in the fields overturned in the middle of a river in northern Jigawa State.
\nPolice said the boat was travelling in the dark, the water level was high and there were strong winds. Security regulations were not followed and the passengers did not have life jackets.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Passengers headed by river to Dugga, to attend a condolence visit before the ferry capsized, rescuers said Niger A crowded ferry boat has capsized in Nigeria\u2019s Niger State, drowning at least 32 people, rescuers said on Thursday, raising the toll from the country\u2019s latest fatal boat tragedy. The vessel, which had nearly 100 men, women […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":501097,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-501080","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n