At least 20 people have lost their lives after a boat capsized in Badau village, Bagwai LGA of Kano state.
Women and children were the most hit in the accident that happened around 6 pm on Tuesday.
“The passengers were traveling to Bagwai town to attend the annual Mulud festival,” an eyewitness said.
“Scores of others sustained various degrees of injuries. Very few passengers survived the incident.”
According to TheCable, several passengers drowned because they could not swim to the bank of the river and were not wearing life jackets.
Saminu Yusuf Abdullahi, the spokesman of the state fire service, confirmed the incident.
He said 20 corpses have so far been retrieved while seven people have been rescued alive, adding that the rescue operation was still ongoing.
“More 49 persons were in the boat which was on its way to Bagwai town from Badau village when the incident happened,” he said.
In 2007, several passengers lost their lives in a similar incident in the local government area.
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