No fewer than 100 persons, including a father and his four children, have lost their lives in a boat mishap at Egbu village, Patigi Local Government Area of Kwara State.

Newsmen gathered the incident happened on Monday when the deceased was returning from a marriage ceremony at neighbouring Egboti village in Niger State.

It was also gathered that river waves took the boat and hit a tree, leading to the boat capsizing and leaving many people dead.
The entire Egboti community has been thrown into mourning as no fewer than 50 bodies have so far been recovered from the incident at press time.

Sources in the village told newsman that the deceased persons had taken off from Kpada village to be part of the marriage ceremony at Egboti village.

Sources also said the boat was carrying over 300 passengers on a return trip from the venue of the marriage ceremony when it went under at Egbu village.

The people, who gave details of the incident, said 69 persons lost their lives from Egbu village, 36 from Gakpan village and four from Kpada village in the Patigi council of the State.

When contacted, the state police command’s Public Relations Officer, Mr Okasanmi Ajayi, who confirmed the incident yesterday, said the state police command had dispatched the Divisional Police Officer of Patigi council to get more information on the incident.

He said there was a scanty report of a boat that capsized carrying about 100 people in a village in Patigi, adding: “I will give you details on the incident as soon as I get more information.”

Vanguard/ Oluwayemisi Owonikoko

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