More than 100 folks died, together with many who have been coming back from a marriage ceremony, after a river boat transporting them capsized within the early hours of Monday in Nigeria, in accordance with residents and the native police.

The boat was crusing on the Niger River within the western state of Kwara, in accordance with a police spokesman, Okasanmi Ajayi, who mentioned that greater than 100 folks had been rescued and that the search was ongoing.

“The boat capsized in complete darkness and it wasn’t until hours later that we were alerted,” Mr. Ajayi mentioned. The demise toll stood at 103 as of Tuesday night and was more likely to rise, he added.

River boat accidents are a recurring concern in Nigeria, a West African nation the place overloading, lax security laws, the absence of life jackets and poor upkeep typically result in lethal incidents. Nighttime crusing is outlawed throughout the nation, however the ban stays poorly enforced.

The authorities had but to find out the reason for the accident on Monday, Mr. Ajayi mentioned. Among the victims have been a number of households, together with youngsters, in accordance with testimonies from local residents.

Ibrahim Hassan, a resident of the village of Ebbu, the place most of the wedding ceremony visitors have been from, mentioned the world skilled heavy rainfall on Monday. One household that Mr. Hassan is aware of misplaced seven youngsters, with two others nonetheless lacking as of Tuesday evening, he mentioned in a phone interview.

“We lost a lot of people, including women and children,” Mr. Hassan added. “Our community will never be the same again.”

Nigerians typically flip to river transport as a substitute for poorly maintained roads, particularly throughout the wet season.

The 2,600-mile-long Niger, the primary river in West Africa, acts as a key regional commerce route, originating far to the west in Guinea and flowing in an unlimited arc northeast into the Sahel, then southeast and at last south, discharging into the Atlantic by the Niger Delta, in southeastern Nigeria. It is Africa’s third-longest river, after the Nile and the Congo.

Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq, the governor of Kwara State, said in a statement that the boat had carried folks from a number of states, however it remained unclear whether or not the entire passengers had been attending the marriage ceremony.

In May 2021, at least 160 people died in a ship accident in roughly the identical space on the Niger River. In May of this 12 months, a minimum of 15 youngsters died after a ship capsized within the northwestern state of Sokoto.