No fewer than eight children out of ten children on board the boat, were among those who lost their lives and were given the mass burial.
34 persons, including 10 children and 24 adults, boarded the fatal boat which set sail from Zangoro Bassa/Kukoki Ward terminal to Gijiwa/Kato Ward terminal in Shiroro Local Government Area on Thursday last week.
The Niger State Emergency Management Agency NSEMA, on Monday disclosed that the cause of the mishap was presence of water hyacinth, strong waves and grafting trees.
The director of Relief and Rehabilitation of NSEMA, Salihu Garba gave the names of the fatalities saying “10 lives were lost, including Farida Muntari, Sharhabila Sagir, Abubakar Sadiq, Na’ima Ibrahim, Amina, Safaratu Ibrahim, Sadiq Ibrahim, Rafiya Yakubu, and two unidentified victims.
“The boat had six drivers, including Dahiru Yusuf, Sa’idu Shu’aibu, Ahmadu Garba, Sa’idu Garba, Abdulaziz Yahaya, and Lukuman Sani.”
He disclosed that the survivors included,
Surajo Ibrahim (Zangoro), Ibrahim Wakili Nababa (Zangoro), Yahaya Yahuza (Zangoro), Murtala Sarki (Zangoro)Yakubu Hamza (Zangoro) and Sahabi Abdullahi (Zangoro)
Others are Mustafa Suleiman (Zangoro), Ramadan Suleiman (Zangoro), Tanimu Kure (Zangoro), Huzairu Tanimu From (Zangoro), Muntari Kure (Zangoro), Kankanuwa Tanimu (Zangoro), Hussaina Tanimu (Zangoro) Sami’a Lukuman (Zangoro), Zaliha Tanimu (Zangoro) and Angulu Abdulaziz (Zangoro).
The victims, mostly traders, were conveying their goods from the Zongoru Community of Bassa Ward to Gijiwa, ahead of Friday market in Kuta, headquarters of Shiroro LGA, when the incident occured.
22 persons were reportedly recovered out of the 34 persons said to be on board of which 10 lost their lives.
Garba said that the agency had yet to identify two of the deceased persons, adding that all the deceased were from Zangoro.
He further said that there were 24 male and female adults and 10 male and female children in the boat when it capsized. At the moment search is still ongoing to recover two of the corpses.
