16 Siblings Die In Niger Boat Mishap

• Kazeem Badmus

Sixteen siblings were reportedly among the farmers who lost their lives in a boat mishap in Gbajibo, a community in Mokwa LGA of Niger State.

OSUN DEFENDER reports that 26 persons died on Sunday morning, in the accident while many others were still missing.

 

A member of the affected family, Hajiya Kashi Mokwa, while speaking with a journalist, said the deceased included her daughter, grandchildren and other members of the family.

She said, “We are devastated with the mishap. Losing 16 members of your family is a severe disaster and it has happened to us. They were going to the farm when the boat collided with an underwater stump.

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“Because the water level has risen now because of regular heavy rainfall, you won’t see those stumps.

“We want the government to come to help us. Boat mishap is becoming too much. It has been a traumatic experience for me and the rest members of my family. Where you lost 16 members in a family at once, how easy to bear this tragedy?

“If the government wants to send us relief support, it should come directly to us. Our people don’t have adequate life jackets. It’s not true that they don’t want to use. The ones the government has been giving are inadequate.

“They were all going to farm including children and women and water is our major transport system. We can’t access our farms without crossing the river. Government should help us for the sake of Allah.”

Meanwhile, six more bodies of farmers have been recovered from the water by the divers.