At least 12 people were reported dead on Wednesday in Darei village of Jahun Local Government area of Jigawa, northwest of Nigeria after the two canoes they were using capsized.
An eye witness in the village told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that seven bodies had been recovered by some fishermen and local farmers in the area.
The Executive Secretary, State Emergency Management Agency, Yusuf Babura said that rescue work was going on and that the agency had been able to recover 12 bodies so far.
Babura added that most of victims were girls going to attend a wedding ceremony.
“Young girls under nine to 12 years old were loaded in two boats on their way from Tsuburi Darai village to cross the river to Gilma village to attend a wedding ceremony when the tragedy occurred.” he said.
The eyewitness who spoke to NAN said “a canoe from Darei heading to Girma first capsized and another one that was trying to drop some passengers at the other side of the river bank turned back to rescue the drown canoe.”
He added that “in the process, the girls in a canoe that wanted to rescue the others who were mostly teenagers, jumped into the water due to fear and got drown too.”
The Police Public Relation Officer in the state, Mr Abdul Jinjiri, also confirmed the incident.
