At least 15 people were killed after a boat capsized in Nigeria’s northwest Sokoto state on Tuesday, officials told the CNN .
A police spokesman, Sanusi Abubakar, told the CNN on Wednesday (10) that 21 of the 36 people on board were rescued after the boat overturned in the Dandeji River, in the Shagari district of Sokoto.
“There were 36 people on board. Twenty-one were rescued alive and 15 drowned,” said Abubakar. “Among the 15 who drowned, there were 13 women and two men,” he added.
District President Aliyu Dantani told state media the Nigerian News Agency (NAN) that the boat was mainly carrying children in search of firewood when it capsized. Residents depend on firewood for fuel.
The bodies of the dead were recovered by local divers and buried on Tuesday according to Muslim tradition, Dantani said.
The area has seen previous tragic boat accidents. In April last year, around 29 people, most of them teenagers, died when a boat carrying them across the Shagari River in search of firewood sank, local media reported at the time.
A year earlier, 13 people, including children, lost their lives in another boating accident in the area.
Source: CNN Brasil
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