Niger Boat Mishap: Survivors Narrate Narrow Escape

Survivors of Friday’s boat mishap that claimed 40 lives along Dembo-Ebuchi section of the River Niger have revealed the cause of the mishap.

They told LEADERSHIP Sunday yesterday that the accident was not due to overloading as speculated but that the boat hit a log of wood underneath the water.

A survivor, Umar Yahaya, said he boarded the boat populated mostly by women from Egbe in Kogi State where they went for farming to Katcha in Niger State.

He said, “The last thing I can recall was a loud noise from the bottom of the boat, after that I saw water taking over the boat and I was struggling to swim at the middle of the River. Some of us who could swim tried to survive before fishermen came to our rescue”