According to reports, divers have brought up the bodies of six more farmers who drowned in a boating accident in the community of Gbajibo, located in the Mokwa LGA of Niger State.
With this recent discovery, the dead toll has reached 32.
According to Daily Trust’s count, 16 of these fatalities included siblings.
Hajiya Kashi Mokwa, a member of the afflicted family, told our correspondent over the phone that her daughter and grandkids were among the dead.
We are heartbroken by what has happened. The tragic loss of 16 loved ones is something we have experienced. The trip to the property was cut short when their boat hit a submerged tree stump.
Since the water level has risen as a result of consistent, severe rains, those stumps are now submerged.
We need assistance from the government. There has been one too many boating accidents. This has been a really stressful time for me and my family. How difficult has it been to deal with the loss of 16 family members all at once?
The government’s disaster aid should be sent directly to us, not through intermediaries. We don’t provide enough life vests for our people. They don’t actually avoid using it because of that myth. Government-issued ones are insufficient.
Water is our primary mode of transportation, thus the whole family, including the kids and the ladies, was heading out to the farm. We have to cross the river in order to go to our fields. “For the sake of Allah, the government should aid us,” she pleaded.
