Forty people, mostly women and children, have been confirmed dead after a boat capsized in Badau village, Bagwai Local Government Area of Kano State on Tuesday.

According to an eyewitness, the incident occurred around 6pm when the overloaded boat was conveying passengers from Badau village to Bagwai town to attend a religious ceremony when it capsized in the middle of the river.

“The passengers were travelling to Bagwai town to attend the annual Mulud festival. The boat capsized due to overload, killing over 40 passengers, mostly women and children. Scores of others sustained various degrees of injuries.

“Very few passengers survived the incident.

“The passengers who died right in the water could not swim to the bank of the river and they were not wearing life jackets ,” the eyewitness said.

The spokesman of the state Fire Service, Saminu Yusuf Abdullahi, who confirmed the incident, said 20 corpses have so far been retrieved while seven people were rescued alive as the rescue operation was still ongoing.

“More then 49 persons were in the boat which was on its way to Bagwai town from Badau village when the incident happened.

“The cause of the accident was due to overloading and that is something we have always preached against,” Abdullahi said.