Canoe Accident in Jigawa States Leaves 40 Feared Dead

No fewer than 40 women and children are feared dead after a canoe capsized in Ringim Local Government Area of Jigawa State.

The Jigawa State Police Command confirmed the incident this week, saying one body had been recovered while search and rescue operations continued for the remaining passengers.

In a statement on its official Facebook page, the police said emergency responders were working to recover those still missing.

“One of the bodies was recovered. Efforts to recover the remaining 39 are underway,” the police said.

The Director of Planning at the Jigawa State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), Muhammad Sanusi, also confirmed the incident, saying the passengers were mainly female farmers and agricultural labourers travelling by canoe when the accident occurred.

Sanusi leads planning operations at SEMA, the state agency responsible for coordinating disaster response and rescue efforts across Jigawa.

Search And Rescue Efforts Continue

According to Sanusi, the cause of the accident has yet to be established.

Emergency personnel, local divers and community volunteers have intensified search efforts in the area, working alongside the police to locate the missing passengers.

“Hands are on deck as combined efforts continue to determine the exact number of those rescued or missing,” Sanusi said.

He added that authorities were still verifying the number of casualties and survivors as the operation continued.

Boat accidents remain a recurring challenge in many parts of northern Nigeria, where rural communities depend heavily on rivers and other waterways for transportation and farming activities.

Journeys like the one that ended in tragedy in Ringim are common, since many farming communities in the area have few road alternatives to reach their fields.

Why These Accidents Keep Happening

Safety experts have linked many boat accidents in the region to overloading, poor maintenance, bad weather and passengers not wearing life jackets.

Authorities have repeatedly called on operators and passengers to follow established water transportation safety regulations to reduce the frequency of such tragedies.

Nigeria’s National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) is the federal body charged with regulating safety standards on rivers and other inland waters, including licensing operators and setting passenger limits for boats.

Enforcement, however, remains inconsistent in many rural areas, where canoes often carry more passengers than they are designed for.

As search operations continue in Ringim, the police say the final toll will only be confirmed once all passengers have been accounted for.