One dead, over 40 missing in Niger River boat sinking

NIAMEY: Rescuers, fishermen, navy experts and police combed the Niger River Thursday looking for 42 people, including children, missing after an overloaded boat capsized while bringing them to a market, authorities said.

The vessel foundered as it was battered by powerful winds in Sambera district in southwest Niger, near the border with Benin, early Wednesday morning, going down just 200 metres from its destination.

“Sixty-two people were saved and 43 others are missing, judging from the number of shoes that have been recovered,” Sambera Mayor Oumarou Hassane told AFP.

The corpse of a woman was later recovered.

The victims had been aboard a canoe travelling from GorouBeri in Benin to Ouna in Niger, according to Hassane.

The vessel was transporting a large consignment of cereals and about a hundred traders from Benin and Niger, as well as children, Hassane said.

In Benin, Moussa Mouhamadou, prefect of the northern district of Alibori, gave a similar toll.

“Sixty-four people were saved,” he told Radio Benin.

“We discovered about 40 pairs of shoes at the site (of the accident), and linked them to the people who are missing.”

“The survivors went home last night and are well. They are being given medical and psychological support,” said Mouhamadou.

Most of the passengers were from Benin, said the country’s Interior Minister Sacca Lafia. — AFP