About 140 people missing after boat sinks in Nigeria

Some 140 people went missing after an overcrowded boat carrying some 160 passengers capsized in Nigeria on Wednesday, media said.

Abdullahi Buhari Warra, the head of the Ngaski district, was quoted as saying by the Punch daily that only 22 people had been pulled out of the water. Rescuers also retrieved the corpse of a drowned baby girl.

"In fact, many people have died and nobody can precisely know their number," he admitted.

The boat was sailing from the Niger state to Kebbi in northwestern Nigeria when it broke up in the middle of the Niger River. Warra said it had enough space for 80 people but was carrying twice as many passengers as well as bags of sand for gold miners. (ANI/Sputnik)

( With inputs from ANI )

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