At least 150 missing after shipwreck in Nigeria

A ship with about 200 passengers on board was wrecked by overloading this Wednesday in the Niger River as it passed through Kebbi State, in northwestern Nigeria, according to local authorities, who have not been able to specify the number of victims.

The vessel had left the town of Lokon Minaa in Niger State (in the center) and was heading for the town of Wara in Kebbi when the hull broke and caused it to sink.

The accident occurred on the morning of this Wednesday in the Ngaski area, when the wooden boat that was carrying, in addition to sandbags for a gold mine, about 200 people, most of them women and children, broke in two, as reported by the British channel BBC.

"There are a lot of people in the river who have to be rescued," Ngaski's administrative head, Abdullahi Buhari Warra, told the BBC's Hausa (northern Nigerian language) service in statements collected by local media.

“In fact, many people have died and no one can know precisely their number. We were only able to rescue 22 people who have been rushed to the Wara General Hospital to receive medical attention, "he explained to the agency France Presse. "We were also able to recover a corpse of a girl," said Buhari Warra, who stressed that the ship was overloaded because it has a maximum capacity of 80 passengers. Other witnesses have assured that up to 40 people have been rescued. Four bodies have been recovered.

Kebbi State Police spokesman Nafi'u Abubakar told the Nigerian newspaper

that a team had been sent to the area on a rescue mission.

"The rescue operation is ongoing and the details of the unfortunate incident will be disclosed later," added Abubakar.

The event comes after at least 28 people died and 65 were rescued after a ship sank on May 8 in the Nigerian state of Niger.

Shipwrecks are frequent in Nigerian waterways due to overloading and lack of maintenance, especially in the rainy season.