Niger govt confirms one dead, others drowned in boat mishap

Niger State Emergency Management Agency (NSEMA) has confirmed the unfortunate incident of a boat mishap in Kwata via Zumba community in Shiroro Local Government Area of the state at the early hours of Saturday.

The Director General of the Agency stated this on Sunday in Minna during an interview with the Tribune Online adding that the ill-fated boat was said to have loaded passengers and goods ranging from foodstuff to other farm produces and livestocks for the weekly market days in the area from Nansa village by the river bank and upstream Shiroro Hydro Power Dam heading towards Kwata Saturday market at Zumba.

He stated further that midway into the water, the passengers on board the boat, it hit a tree stump and broke into two pieces, thereby leading to the drowning of several numbers of the passengers on board the boat.

Inga further explained that one person has been confirmed dead among the passengers, while another victim was said to have sustained injuries, saying that the dead body of the yet unidentified male passenger has been recovered just as an injured male passenger has been rescued, taken to a nearby hospital in one of the neighbouring communities around the scene of the boat mishap, has been treated and discharged.

Meanwhile, the NSEMA boss, Ahmed Ibrahim Inga has said that the search and rescue operation was very slow as the communities around the scene of the unfortunate incident have been described as bandits’ enclaves.

He noted that disputing reports have trailed the boat mishap as a school of thought had attributed the immediate or remote cause of the accident to the decision of the passengers on board the ill-fated boat as running away from their community following fears of an imminent Bandits attack while the other group said that the passengers were involved in the boat mishap as a result of hitting a tree stump while going to the weekly Saturday market by water transportation.

It was however learnt that most of the drowned passengers on board the boat were said to have swamped into safety unhurt while several others were also rescued by local divers in the area.

Further checks also revealed that recue operations were a bit slow, as a result of the fact that some rescuers were allegedly afraid to assist the victims of the broad day commercial boat mishap for fear of being kidnapped by some dare devil bandits lucking around in the rural communities in Shiroro LGA of the state.

Meanwhile the DG, NSEMA, Malam Ahmed Ibrahim Inga has said that in his interaction with the Sarkin Ruwan Zumba on Sunday morning near the scene of the boat mishap that the figures remained the same, except that there were three cows in the boat, one drowned, one swam into safety while another one was slaughtered by its owners with the view that the domestic animal didn’t die on its own as a result of the injuries sustained by the animal.

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