Over 100 wedding guests dead in Nigeria boat disaster

More than 100 people have died in north central Nigeria after a boat carrying families returning from a wedding sank in a river, police and local authorities said.

The river boat was ferrying people in Kwara State when the accident happened, local police and the state governor's office said.

Kwara State police spokesman Okasanmi Ajayi told the AFP news agency that 103 people had died and 100 had survived.

"Search and rescue is still ongoing which means the toll is likely to rise."

Kwara State governor's office said the victims had been returning from a wedding in Niger State to Kwara's Patigi district.

Most of those who drowned were relatives from several villages who attended the wedding together and partied late into the night, according to Abdul Gana Lukpada, a local chief.

They arrived at the ceremony on motorcycles but had to leave on the locally made boat after a downpour flooded the road, he said.

"The boat was overloaded and close to 300 persons were in it. While they were coming, the boat hit a big log inside the water and split into two,” said Lukpada.

The wedding was held in the village of Egboti in the neighbouring Niger state, said Usman Ibrahim, a resident. Because the accident happened at 3 am [local time], it was hours before many people knew what had happened, he said.

As the passengers drowned, villagers nearby rushed to the scene and managed to rescue about 50 at first, Lukpada said, describing early efforts to rescue the passengers as slow and "very difficult."

As of Tuesday afternoon, officials and locals were still searching for more bodies in the river, which is one of Nigeria's largest. Police spokesperson Ajayi said the rescue operation would continue through the night until Wednesday.

Locals said it was the deadliest boat accident they have seen in many years.

By Tuesday evening, all of the bodies recovered so far had been buried, most near the river, in accordance with local customs, Lukpada said.

Night-time sailing

Last month, 15 children drowned and 25 others went missing after their overloaded boat capsized in northwest Sokoto State as they were on their way to collect firewood.

Almost exactly a year earlier, another 29 children from a nearby village also drowned in the same river as they were on a trip to collect firewood for their families.

During massive flooding in the rainy season last December, at least 76 people drowned when their boat went down in a swollen river in southeast Anambra State.

With poor road infrastructure a common problem and kidnapping for ransom a major issue along some highways, river boat travel for transport and trade is common in Nigeria.

The Niger River is West Africa's main waterway running in a crescent through Guinea to Nigeria's Niger Delta and is a key local trade route for some of the countries.

Nigeria's National Inland Waterways Authority has tried to ban night-time sailing on rivers to stop accidents and says overloading ships is a criminal offence, but skippers and crews often ignore the regulations.