No fewer than 53 people were still missing as a boat carrying traders from Gaya area of Niger Republic capsized in River Niger at Lolo area of Kebbi State.
The boat was carrying the traders to a market in Lolo at Bagudo Local Government in Kebbi state when the accident happened.
Daily Trust gathered that 47 of the traders who were reported to be in the boat when it capsized have been rescued.
The chairman of Bagudo local government, Alhaji Muhammed Kaura Zagga confirmed to our correspondent that majority of the traders were from Gaya in Niger Republic. He said they were going to the market at Lolo when their boat capsized.
He said the Niger authorities had deployed 500 divers to search for the remaining traders who were missing.
The Acting Executive Director of the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), Alhaji Abbas Rabiu confirmed the boat mishap to our correspondent, saying, “They were mostly traders from Niger Republic.”
In another development, 18 people have died from the outbreak of gastroenteritis at Dole-Kaina area of Dandi local government area of Kebbi State.
The 18 people were among the 216 people that were admitted at the border hospital at Dole-Kaina in Kamba area of the state.
The Deputy Nursing Officer, Lawali Saidu, told our correspondent that the patients were stooling and vomiting excessively when they were brought to the hospital and they died within the first week on treatment.
It would be recalled that the water-borne disease has in the past one month spread to several local communities in the state and Dole Kaina, a border town area of Kamba was one of the worst hit areas in the state.
The nursing officer added that the hospital had been admitting and treating people on daily basis for the gastroenteritis disease. “Yes there is an outbreak of cholera here. We lost 18 out of the 216 people who were brought here last week,” he said.
