Four individuals from Kauranmata village in Madobi Local Government Area of Kano State have been confirmed dead following the capsizing of a canoe they were traveling in, which carried a total of 16 people.
The incident occurred on Tuesday evening when the victims were returning from Karfi town in Kura LGA where they worked as local rice processors.
Five people including the canoe driver and a nursing mother were rescued alive but the child has not been found according to reports.
Search and rescue for the 6 other passengers was ongoing at the time of filing this report.
Madobi local government information officer, Jamilu Mustapha Yakasai, told Daily Trust that bodies of the victims, Maryam Jibrin, Yusuf Galinja, Kabiru Muhammad and Safiyanu Musa, had been recovered and buried according to the Islamic rites on Wednesday.
He said the interim chairman of Madobi local council, Alhaji Muhammad Sani Gora, had visited Kauran Mata community to console the people over the incident.
Yakasai quoted the chairman as saying, “The council will do everything in its power to support the affected families and all necessary assistance is given during this difficult time.”
A resident of Kauran Mata, Salisu Adamu Baure, said it was the first time such a fatal accident occured in the river, attributing the incident to overloading.
He said the canoe was loaded with two bags of rice and a motorcycle.
The ward head of Kauran Mata, Ibrahim Lawan, urged the Kano State government and elected officials from the area to provide modern speed boats with life jackets for the people to prevent avoidable loss of lives.
The spokesman for the Kano State Fire Service, Saminu Abdullahi, also confirmed the incident, saying the councillor representing Kauran Mata Ward, Aminu Garba, contacted the state fire service when the incident happened.