More than 100 people missing after Nigeria boat carrying 300 sinks

Mostly women and children were on board a wooden vessel that capsized in Mokwa in the country’s Niger State.

More than 100 people are missing in Nigeria after a boat carrying mostly women and children capsized in Niger State in the country’s north, authorities have said.

The locally made wooden boat, with a capacity of 100 passengers, had about 300 people on board when it overturned in the rural Mokwa district, an emergency official said on Wednesday.

The vessel sank in the Niger River on Tuesday night at about 8:30pm (19:30 GMT), said Abdullahi Baba-Arah, the director general of Niger State Emergency Management Agency (NSEMA).

The passengers were returning from an Islamic religious festival when the incident occurred.

Rescue workers and volunteers from Mokwa local government area had rescued 150 people, Babah-Arah said early on Wednesday.