About 15 people, including children, drowned in a boat conveying passengers in a lake after a boat capsized in Adamawa State on Friday evening.
The incident occurred in Njuwa Lake near Dandu village in Yola South Local Government Area when the canoe carrying 23 passengers, including farmers, traders and children, from Rugange village to Yola town capsized.
A Red Cross volunteer explained that four corpses were recovered from the scene, saying that humanitarian workers and local divers had intensified the search for the missing persons.
He further explained that a heavy windstorm sent water into the boat, which suddenly overturned with the passengers.
He pleaded with the authorities to provide engine boats for the Rugange community, which suffered from the annual overflooding of River Benue, as a means to curtail the capsizing of boats with passengers.
The Executive Secretary, Adamawa State Emergency Management Agency (ADSEMA), Muhammad Amin Sulaiman, while confirming the incident, said 7 people were rescued, two confirmed dead, while fifteen were still missing.
He said the search would continue on Saturday, while calling for calm as authorities make efforts to find the missing passengers.
He explained, “Two persons died when a boat conveying men and market women from Mayobelwa to Mayo-Ine capsized on Monday.”
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