A baby died when an overloaded migrant boat headed for Britain sank in the Channel off the coast of France on Thursday night, French maritime authorities said Friday.
The accident occurred off the French town of Wissant, the maritime authority in charge of the Channel and the North Sea told AFP, adding that 65 people were rescued but a “baby was found unconscious and sadly declared dead”.
More than 100 people are missing in Nigeria after a boat carrying mostly women and children capsized in Niger State in the country’s north, authorities have said.
The locally made wooden boat, with a capacity of 100 passengers, had about 300 people on board when it overturned in the rural Mokwa district, an emergency official said on Wednesday.
The vessel sank in the Niger River on Tuesday night at about 8:30pm (19:30 GMT), said Abdullahi Baba-Arah, the director general of Niger State Emergency Management Agency (NSEMA).
major disaster in Niger State in 18 months after more than 100 people were killed in another boat accident.
Experts say most of the boat disasters in Nigeria in recent years increasingly point to regulatory failures and are often attributed to overloading or poorly maintained boats.
“The boat was not supposed to carry more than 100 persons, but there were almost 300 people on it. And that was what resulted in the breakage of the boat,” Salihu Garba, the director of relief and rehabilitation at the state emergency services, told The Associated Press news agency.
NSEMA’s Baba-Arah said his agency was investigating what happened during Tuesday’s incident and that the cause was yet to be determined, local media reported.
More than 100 people are missing in Nigeria after a boat carrying mostly women and children capsized in Niger State in the country’s north, authorities have said.
The locally made wooden boat, with a capacity of 100 passengers, had about 300 people on board when it overturned in the rural Mokwa district, an emergency official said on Wednesday.
The vessel sank in the Niger River on Tuesday night at about 8:30pm (19:30 GMT), said Abdullahi Baba-Arah, the director general of Niger State Emergency Management Agency (NSEMA).
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