The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has announced that 69 people are still missing, 21 dead bodies have been recovered and 14 persons were rescued alive from the Taraba boat mishap.
The boat capsized on the Benue River while carrying over 100 passengers, mostly local traders, including women and children returning from the Mayorenero fish market in Ardo-Kola Local Council en route to Binnari in Karim-Lamido Local Council all in Taraba State.
The incident occurred on Saturday, October 29th, 2023.
According to the Director of Emergency Services at NEMA, Bashir Garga, rescue operations are still ongoing.
Garga blamed the overloading of the boat by operators as one of the reasons for the resurgence of boat mishaps in the country.
The Governor of Taraba State, Agbu Kefas, described the mishap as tragic and commended the rescue operations. He prayed that such an incident should not occur again.
NEMA said:
“Search and rescue operations was activated and out of the 104 passengers, fourteen (14) persons were rescued, Twenty One (21) dead bodies recovered while Sixty Nine (69) persons are still missing.
“Search and Rescue operations have been called off while we reached agreement with local divers to keep watch.
“The Deputy Governor of Taraba State, Alhaji Aminu Abdullahi Alkali together with other stakeholders on Tuesday, 31st October 2023 visited the scene of the incident.”
