No fewer than 29 people have died while two others remain missing after a boat carrying about 90 passengers capsized in Gausawa, Borgu Local Government Area of Niger State.
The tragic incident, which occurred at about 11:30am on Tuesday, involved passengers—mostly women and children—who were heading to Dugga community for a condolence visit.
The Director General of the Niger State Emergency Management Agency, Abdullahi Baba-Arah, confirmed the development on Wednesday, noting that 50 passengers had so far been rescued.
He said, “NSEMA has received a report of a boat mishap incident at a community called Gausawa in Malale area of Borgu LGA. According to our desk officer who led the search and rescue operations, the boat took off from a community called Tugan Sule in Shagunu ward with 90 people on board, including women and children, and was heading to Dugga for a condolence visit.
“The incident happened yesterday, 2nd September, 2025, at about 11:30am, and the cause was attributed to overloading and collision with a tree stump. As at the time of filing this report, 29 dead bodies have been recovered, with 50 persons rescued alive, while two people are still missing. Search and rescue operations are still ongoing for possible recovery of the missing persons.”
It was gathered that none of the passengers wore life jackets when the mishap occurred.
An official of the Ministry of Transport, who spoke on condition of anonymity, lamented the refusal of many passengers in riverine areas to wear life jackets despite repeated warnings.
“The passengers were obviously not wearing life jackets, because if they had been, more, if not all of them, would have survived the accident. Borgu is very far and a lot of these passengers do not like to wear life jackets for reasons best known to them,” the source said.
The mishap is the second in Niger State this year. A similar accident occurred in July and was also linked to collision with a tree stump.
The National Inland Waterways Authority had, after the July incident that claimed over 200 lives in Mokwa, distributed life jackets to communities along riverine routes.