Jigawa canoe mishap: Death toll rises 8, 15 still missing

Alhaji Yusif Sani, the Executive Secretary, Jigawa State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) has said that the death toll from Wednesday’s boat mishap in the state has risen to eight.

Sani made the disclosure on Thursday in Dutse while updating newsmen on the rescue mission.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that two canoes, carrying 31 girls of between the ages of 12 and 20 on Wednesday capsized on River Hadeji in Darai village, Jahun LGA.

Sani said the canoes capsized when the victims were returning home from work at their farm.

He explained that the remains of one of the passengers was discovered on Thursday while the remains of seven others were discovered on Wednesday by the rescue team.

He said 15 passengers were still missing while eight were rescued alive.

The executive secretary said that Gov. Badaru Abubakar had already visited the scene and condoled with the families of the victims.

He said that the governor promised to take proactive measures to forestall the re-occurrence of such incident.

Sani described the incident as “unfortunate and tragic,” adding that six of the victims were billed to get married in two weeks time.