Tragic boat accident in Nigeria: Sixteen passengers feared dead

Sixteen passengers are feared to have died after their overloaded boat capsized in northern Nigeria, rescue officials said on Monday.

The wooden canoe was carrying the farmers across a river to their rice fields in Sokoto state early on Sunday.

One body has been found, and women and children are among 16 people still missing after the boat set off from Dundaye village at around 0900 GMT.

The National Emergency Agency, NEMA, said the boat was carrying 36 people and that there were 19 survivors.

"One dead body was removed from the river while 16 persons including men, women and children are still missing," it said on social media.

"It is almost a day since the boat accident and it is believed all those yet to be recovered are dead. The focus now is on retrieving the bodies from the river," NEMA's regional head Aliyu Shehu Kafindangiya told AFP.

NEMA said around 30 divers and fishermen had joined the search.

Nasiru Garba Kalambaina, disaster and emergency adviser to the Sokoto state governor, blamed overloading for the accident.

Kalambaina told AFP the boat was meant to carry 15 passengers and was "far beyond its capacity, which made it capsize midstream".

Boat accidents are common in Nigeria's poorly regulated waterways due to overcrowding and lack of maintenance, particularly in the annual rainy season when rivers and lakes overflow.

On Thursday, 15 farmers drowned when their boat overturned in the Gamoda river in northern Jigawa state on their way to their farms, according to police.