Many people mostly women and children have lost their lives today in Badau village, Bagwai local government area of Kano state following a boat mishap, Daily Telescope can report.
Confirming to incident to Daily Telescope on pone, a senior officer of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defense Corpse (NSCDC), who pleaded for anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to press, said the incident occurred today around 6pm.
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He explained that the boat capsized in the middle of the river while conveying over 40 passengers to Bagwai town from Badau village.
The victims, Daily Telescope gathered are students of Islamiyyah schools, their parents and teachers travelling to Bagwai Town to attend Maulud Festival.
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“The passengers were travelling to the Bagwai town to attend the annual Mulud festival. The boat capsized due to overload, killing over 40 passengers mostly women and children. Scores of others sustained various degrees of injuries. Very few passengers survived the incident.
“The victims of the unfortunate incident died right inside the river because they could not swim to the bank of the river and they were not wearing life jacket. I could vividly recall that when I was there as in-charge, i have provided the community with adequate life jackets, but unfortunately, the villagers did not want to wear it whenever they are travelling on the boat,” he said.
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Daily Telescope recalled that in 2007 several passengers also lost their lives in similar incident in the local government.
Details later…
