As the floods that have been predicted in strategic parts continue, at least ten teenage girls have lost their lives when their canoe capsized on their way to a wedding in Taraba one of the regions hit by the predicted flooding.
According to the head of the Red Cross in Taraba State, Manja Agwe Mathew, on Wednesday, three others who were in the canoe that capsized on the Karim River are still missing: “The bodies of 10 passengers in the canoe were recovered by local fishermen while search for the remaining three is still on,” he said.
He added that the accident occurred late on Tuesday while the group was travelling “to a wedding ceremony in another village across the river.”
Earlier on, on Monday, the Red Cross had announced that at least 137 people have died in Nigeria since July from flood-related causes. Water levels have surged on the River Benue, which feeds the Karim, causing at least 30 deaths. Meanwhile, the thousands of people in the south and centre of the country who live on the plains of the River Niger have been urged to evacuate their homes, fearing that the river will overflow.
