Eighteen people including 15 young girls have drowned when their canoe capsized in a river in northeast Nigeria on November 13, police said.
The canoe was ferrying passengers to a farm on the other side of Buji River, in Bauchi State, when it was overturned, police spokesman Ahmed Mohammed Wakil said in a statement.
“Bodies were removed from the river and taken to General Hospital Itas,” Mr. Wakil said. “A medical doctor certified 18 people dead.”
A list of the victims showed 15 of them were girls between the ages of eight and 15 while the other three were men aged between 20 and 30.
“Five (passengers) were rescued,” Mr. Wakil added.
In September, 12 people were killed in two boat accidents while 10 were killed in August.
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