Twenty – nine persons have been confirmed dead in another boat mishap which has just occurred in Niger State.
The boat mishap occurred at about 11:30am of Tuesday, September 2, 2025, at Gusawa village, Malela Ward, Borgu Local Government of Niger State.
The boat was carrying not less than 90 persons who are mostly women and children when it capsized.
The victims were said to be going on a condolence visit to Dugga, a neighbouring community also in the local government.
The cause of the accident was attributed to overloading and collision with a tree stump.
Many of the passengers were not wearing life jackets when the boat accident occurred.
The Director General of the Niger State Emergency Management Agency, Abdullahi Baba-Arah confirmed the accident.
He said 50 of the boat passengers were rescued alive while 29 of them were brought out dead.
Baba – Arah said search and rescue operation is still ongoing to recover other missing passengers.
He said : “NSEMA has received a report of boat mishap incident at a community called Gausawa in Malale area/ward of Borgu LGA.
“According to our desk officer who led the search and rescue operations, the boat took off from a community called Tugan Sule in Shagunu ward with 90 people on board which includes women and children on the boat heading to Dugga for a condolence visit.
“The incident happened yesterday, 2nd September 2025 at about 11:30am and the cause was attributed to overloading and collision with a tree stomp.
“As at the time of filling this report 29 dead bodies have been recovered with 50 persons rescued alive while 2 people are still missing.
“Search and rescue operations are still on going for possible recovery of missing persons.”
(vitalnewsngr.com)
