Local divers have recovered 12 bodies from the boat mishap which occurred two days ago in Guni River in Munya local government area of Niger state.
The spokesperson of the communities and the Coalition of Shiroro Associations (COSA), Salisu M. Sabo, disclosed this on Friday in a statement in Minna.
“The total number of people in the boat is still not clear, but as of now 12 bodies have been recovered. May their souls rest in peace and may Allah bring an end to this carnage,” he said.
The boat capsized while conveying people of Ashaitu village in Guni Ward who were fleeing from bandits’ attack on their village and other surrounding communities.
Sabo said “these are people who were scampering for safety to cross the river to Chiri village in Shiroro local government area.”
He said reports from locals indicated that the boat was overloaded because everyone wanted to run even though they didn’t know where they were going.
“At a time when they were sailing through Guni River to crossover to Chiri village, the sailor discovered that the boat had shown propensity of capsizing and therefore off-loaded the boat in a nearby hinterland where they could hide from the terrorists temporarily, but the terrorists could not let them.
“The terrorists kept shooting and heading towards their direction which forced the victims to risk sailing the boat despite its likelihood of failing. It was a few minutes after taking this decision between the devil and deep blue sea that the boat capsized and they all lost their lives.”
