No fewer than 11 persons, including a pregnant woman and six children, have died following a tragic boat mishap in the Makurdi area of Benue State.
PLATFORM TIMES gathered that the incident occurred on Saturday evening when the victims were returning to their community after attending a burial ceremony.
Eyewitness accounts indicated that the ill-fated boat, carrying over 40 passengers, capsized midstream between Wadata and Daududawada communities during a heavy downpour accompanied by strong winds.
A local vigilante commander, Nura Umar, who confirmed the incident, said the victims were residents of Daududawada, an island settlement located behind the Nigerian Army School of Military Engineering barracks in the North Bank area.
He explained that the passengers had earlier travelled to Wadata to bury a woman from their community who died after being rushed to a private hospital.
According to Umar, the decision to return by water—considered a shorter route—proved fatal as the weather worsened.
“At about 7 p.m., heavy rain and strong winds set in, causing the boat to capsize midway. There were over 40 people on board, but 11 are feared dead,” he said.
He added that only four bodies had been recovered and buried as of the time of filing this report, while efforts were ongoing to locate the remaining victims.
In a heartbreaking account, Umar disclosed that one of the survivors lost her baby during the chaos.
“The woman had strapped her baby to her back, but in the struggle to stay afloat, she lost grip of the child. The baby was later found lifeless after swallowing a large volume of water,” he said.
Residents of the affected community have been thrown into mourning, as local divers and volunteers continue search operations for the missing victims.
Efforts to get official confirmation from the police were unsuccessful, as the Police Public Relations Officer in the state, DSP Udeme Edet, neither answered calls nor responded to a text message as of press time.
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