No fewer than seven people, including four females and three children drowned Saturday morning when the boat in which they were travelling along River Gbako in Katcha Local Government Area of Niger State capsized.
Also, six people had been reported dead and properties worth hundreds of Naira destroyed when a fuel-laden tanker lost control and caused multiple accidents along Mokwa-Jebba road in Mokwa Local Government Area.
Eyewitness said that the capsized boat was conveying about 10 locals, all female, from Balsa community, to a farm across the river to trash rice when the accident occurred at about 10am.
Three of the victims were however rescued by local divers.
The owner of the farm where the victims were heading to, one Yabagi (Alias Goment) lost a wife, a daughter and granddaughter in the unfortunate incident at the Gbako river, which bothers Katcha and Lavun Local Government Area of Niger State.
In a related development, six people died when two petrol tankers trying to avoid a pothole collided with each other and busted into flames leading to the deaths and destroyed some other vehicles plying the Mokwa-Jebba road Friday evening.
The two petrol tankers, according to eyewitness, were travelling together but the driver of the one at the back lost control as he moved through the bad portion of the road and in the process lost control.
The tanker driver was said to have after failed attempts to avoid hitting the one in front, veered off the road and rammed against the wall of a guest house in the town but not without almost pushing the other tanker off the road.
One Abdulmalik Hussaini who spoke to our correspondent on phone from the scene of the accident said the tanker with the failed break and veered off the road also hit another tank loaded with fuel, parked by the road side thereby, causing loud explosion and busted into flame.
Director General, Niger State Emergency Management Agency (NSEMA), Mallam Ahmed Ibrahim Inga, confirmed the incidents, explaining however that about 12 shops around the scene of the tanker accident were completely razed down.
On the boat mishap, Inga blamed tidal wave for it, adding that local current along the river is always strong in the mornings, coupled with the fact that the boat was moving against the tide which resulted in accident.
