A fully loaded boat carrying traders from Onugwa to Ilushi market in Ibaji Local Government of Kogi State has capsized with all the passengers on board.
Also among the victims are those who came for a burial in Onugwa and were returning to base.
The incident happened on River Niger on Tuesday afternoon.
Only five survivors have surfaced yet while 20 bodies have so far been recovered.
Many of the passengers in the boat’s are still missing as at the time of this report.
“The boat was fully loaded with our people going to market for the first of October celebration. Only five survivors have surfaced yet and 20 bodies have been recovered so far and more of our people are lying lifeless beneath the river Niger.
“Even those who came for a burial in Onugwa and returning back to Ilushi were also missing, we are yet to confirm the number of people onboard and those who survived” an eyewitness stated.
Confirming the incident the Chairman, Ibaji local government area, Honourable Ugeh Emmanuel, through a telephone conversation with journalists, described the incident as the most disastrous in the history of the local government, saying many people have lost their lives in the accident.
“As I am speaking with you now, nobody can authoritatively say this is the actual number of casualties. And again we can not even ascertain the number of people onboard right from their departure time.
“This is a very serious accident, the boat have not even near Ilushi when the mishaps occurred around 4:30pm. Most of the victims were moving to Ilushi for the cerebration of first October which has been a tradition in the community before they met their untimely death,” he said.
The Manager, Corporate Affairs, National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA), Makama Sulaiman, did not reply the message sent to him to speak on the incident.
