'13 girls recorded dead,' Agency says

chika ebuzor

February 12, 2016 4:19 AM

The Police Public Relation Officer in the state, Mr Abdul Jinjiri, also confirmed the incident.

No fewer than seven people died immediately on Wednesday, February 11, 2016, in Darei village of Jahun Local Government Area of Jigawa when two canoes capsized.

An eye witness in the village, Malam Idris Shuaibu, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that seven bodies had been recovered by some fishermen and local farmers in the area.

The Cable News report just in, said Yusuf Sani Babura, the executive secretary of the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), has confirmed that 13 deaths have been recorded so far.

Babura added that most of victims were girls returning from an occasion.

He said “Young girls under nine to 12 years old were loaded in two boats on their way from Tsuburi Darai village to cross the river to Gilma village to attend a wedding ceremony when the tragedy occurred.”

The eyewitness who spoke to NAN said “a canoe from Darei heading to Girma first capsized and another one that was trying to drop some passengers at the other side of the river bank turned back to rescue the drown canoe."

He added that “in the process, the girls in a canoe that wanted to rescue the others who were mostly teenagers, jumped into the water due to fear and got drown too.”

The Police Public Relation Officer in the state, Mr Abdul Jinjiri, also confirmed the incident.

chika ebuzor