Up to 76 people may have died in the sinking of a passenger ship in Nigeria

The Nigerian authorities have declared 76 passengers missing during the sinking of a ship on Friday in the Nigerian state of Anambra, in the southeast of the country, from which only nine occupants have been rescued in the last hours.

Thomas Osborne
Thomas Osborne
09 October 2022 Sunday 05:30
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Up to 76 people may have died in the sinking of a passenger ship in Nigeria

The Nigerian authorities have declared 76 passengers missing during the sinking of a ship on Friday in the Nigerian state of Anambra, in the southeast of the country, from which only nine occupants have been rescued in the last hours.

The coordinator for the region of the National Agency for Disaster Management, Thickman Tanimu, has directly linked the tragedy with the floods that have been plaguing the country in recent weeks.

The boat, with 85 people on board, left in the community of Ogbaru with the intention of transporting its passengers away from the strong floods that devastated the area, Tanimu explained to the Nigerian newspaper 'Punch'.

"What I suspect is that the water began to rise and people tried to get on the boat, which ended up giving in to the flood. Here (Ogbaru) there are houses submerged up to the roof. We have only rescued nine people. The 76 that are missing do not appear nowhere," said Tanimu, who has already included the deceased in the national count of victims.

The Governor of Anambra, Chukwuma Soludo, has already communicated his condolences to the families of the victims. "He has been a shock to both the Government and the good people of this state," he lamented in statements collected by the This Day portal.

Ship capsizes are common on Nigerian waterways due to overloading and lack of maintenance, especially in the rainy season.