47 Dead As Boat Capsizes In Sokoto

Officials have told the Associated Press that 47 people died when a boat capsized in a river in Sokoto State on Thursday.

The boat was carrying people who were heading to farms for work in Gorau town in the Goronyo local government area of the state.

Abdulkadir Yusuf, Sokoto state manager at the National Inland Waterways Authority, said the death toll was 47 people “so far”.

Resident Samaila Garba, 55, said his 13-year-old granddaughter, Jamila Usman, was among those who died in the capsizing.

He said he had counted at least 42 bodies of victims, most of them women and children.

“You know, during the rainy season, most women and children go to the farm to work,” he told The Associated Press.

Another resident, Aminu Dan Hajiya, said he goes to his farm using the same waterway and he considers himself lucky to not have been on the boat.

“In fact, almost every household in the community has been affected,” he said.