The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) says the death toll in the Niger boat accident has reached 30, with 58 persons rescued so far. 

NEMA in a statement on Thursday said rescue efforts are, however, still ongoing over the incident which happened on Tuesday in Gausawa community, Borgu Local Government Area of Niger State. 

“Witnesses at the scene of the incident revealed that about 90 persons were onboard the ill-fated vessel,” the agency said about the accident, which left several families grieving. 

“So far, 58 passengers have been rescued, while over 30 lives have been lost as one additional body was recovered this afternoon. Several other passengers remain unaccounted for, with search and rescue efforts still ongoing.” 

According to investigations, the most recent boat incident was “caused by overloading of the vessel, compounded by a collision with a tree stump along the water channel.” 

In the meantime, NEMA’s Director General, Zubaida Umar, has directed the agency’s Minna Operations Office to intensify the ongoing rescue efforts. 

Already, the Niger State Emergency Management Agency (NSEMA) is leading the rescue operation with other stakeholders, including the National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA), Hydroelectric Power Producing Areas Development Commission (HYPPADEC), Nigerian Red Cross Society (NRCS), local divers, and community volunteers.

Meanwhile, NIWA has decried the lack of adherence to safety measures on waterways.

NIWA’s General Manager (Business Development), Olawale Adetola, lamented the fatalities recorded in the country in recent times due to boat accidents.

“Well, let me first express the authorities’ condolences to the people of Niger about this recent boat accident. We are tired of hearing all these fatalities coming through boat accidents,” he said on Thursday. 

“We are doing all we can as an authority to make sure that things like this don’t happen. We’ve done enlightenment and sensitisation of all boat operators to be safety conscious while using their boats on water.

“We have distributed life jackets to protect lives in case of this kind of accident. But by and large, people don’t adhere to the safety regulations that we have put in place.”

Tuesday’s incident adds to the growing number of boat accidents in Nigeria in recent months.

In August, rescue workers said they were searching for more than 40 people after a boat accident in Sokoto.

About one year before that, at least 16 farmers died in a similar accident when a wooden canoe carrying them across a river to their rice fields capsized in Sokoto state.

Experts have blamed poor regulation, non-adherence to safety measures as some of the causes of the frequent incidents.