A boat returning from a wedding capsized in northern Nigeria, killing at least 103 people, including children, officials said Tuesday. Residents and police were still searching for dozens of people who were on the overcrowded boat that capsized early Monday on the Niger River in the Pategi district of Kwara state, which is 160 kilometers (100 miles) from Ilorin, the state capital, according to police spokesman Okasanmi Ajayi. He said 100 people had been rescued so far. Most of those who drowned were relatives from several villages who attended the wedding together and partied late into the night, according to Abdul Gana Lukpada, a local chief. They arrived at the ceremony on motorcycles but had to leave on the locally made boat after a downpour flooded the road, he said. Also read: A boat carrying 180 Rohingya refugees vanished. A frantic phone call helped untangle the mystery. “The boat was overloaded and close to 300 persons were in it. While they were coming, the boat hit a big log inside the water and split into two,” said Lukpada. The wedding was held in the village of Egboti in the neighboring Niger state, said Usman Ibrahim, a resident. Because the accident happened at 3 a.m., it was hours before many people knew what had happened, he said. As the passengers drowned, villagers nearby rushed to the scene and managed to rescue about 50 at first, Lukpada said, describing early efforts to rescue the passengers as slow and “very difficult.” As of Tuesday afternoon, officials and locals were still searching for more bodies in the river, which is one of Nigeria’s largest. Police spokesman Ajayi said the rescue operation would continue through the night until Wednesday. Also read: State media reports Chinese fishing boat sinks in Indian Ocean; 39 on board missing Locals said it was the deadliest boat accident they have seen in many years. By Tuesday evening, all of the bodies recovered so far had been buried, most near the river, in accordance with local customs, Lukpada said. Kwara Gov. Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq’s office issued a statement expressing sadness for the families of those killed and saying that he “continues to monitor the rescue efforts already mounted since Monday night in search of possible survivors.” Boat accidents are common in many remote communities across Nigeria where locally made vessels are commonly used for transport. Most accidents are attributed to overloading and the use of poorly maintained boats.

The body of a pregnant woman was recovered from the Turag River in Ashulia union of Savar upazila of Dhaka after a boat sank in the river Monday morning. The deceased was identified as Rozina Begum, 22, wife of Ashiqur Rahman of Rangpur and a garment worker in Ashulia, said Idris Hossain, in charge of Tongi Fire Service. The boat with 30 passengers on board sank in the mid river in the morning. All the passengers but Rozina managed to swim ashore, he said. Also read: Over 14,000 children die in Bangladesh due to drowning every year A diving team of Tongi fire service fished out her body from the river around 12 pm. “The boat might have capsized due to overload. The body has been handed to the family,” he said. Also read: Young tourist drowns in Nikli haor

Two poultry farmers went missing after their small boat capsized in Chapati haor (back swamp) during a storm in the district's Derai upazila on Wednesday night, police said. The missing farmers have been identified as Mujibur Rahman, 45, and Anhar Mia, 23, of the upazila. Read: Missing tourist’s body fished out of Kishoreganj haor Locals said that three farmers went to Chapati haor on a small engine-driven boat to collect food for ducks on Wednesday afternoon and it capsized during a storm around 9.30pm. Though locals rescued one of the farmers, Parvez Miah, and rushed him to a nearby hospital in the Kolyarkapan market area, the two others couldn't be traced. Akram Ali, officer-in-charge of Derai police station, said a team of fire service divers carried out a search and rescue operation till 12 noon on Thursday, but couldn’t find the missing duo.

At least 16 people from Myanmar’s Rohingya minority have died after a storm capsized the boat they were traveling on to seek refuge in another country, officials and a recovery team member said Tuesday. There were 35 survivors of Saturday’s accident that took place Saturday off Myanmar’s southwestern coast and four people were missing, the officials said. UNHCR, the U.N.’s refugee agency, expressed shock and sadness about the accident in a statement and said at least 17 Rohingya, including children, had died. The boat left the western state of Rakhine last Thursday and encountered bad weather two days later off Ayeyarwaddy Region on Myanmar’s southwestern coast, causing it to capsize, the statement said. The Rohingya, a Muslim minority, have long been persecuted in Myanmar. More than 700,000 Rohingya have fled the country to neighboring Bangladesh since August 2017 to escape the brutal counterinsurgency campaign of Myanmar’s military following an attack by a Rohingya insurgent group in Rakhine State. Also Read: Dhaka wants UN actions to ensure early repatriation of Rohingyas Myanmar’s government has denied accusations that security forces committed mass rapes and killings and burned thousands of homes, but the U.S. government recently labeled actions by the country’s military as genocide.   There are more than 100,000 Rohingya left in Myanmar, confined in squalid displacement camps, along with those living in crowded refugee camps in Bangladesh. Groups of Rohingya from camps in both countries embark on hazardous voyages to the Muslim-majority countries of Malaysia and Indonesia to seek a better living. “Some 630 Rohingya have attempted sea journeys across the Bay of Bengal from January to May 2022,” the UNHCR statement said, with women and children making up 60% of those trying to flee. The statement added: “The risk of abuse at the hands of smugglers and the peril of the sea journey itself are both exacerbated during prolonged journeys, when a safe harbor for disembarkation cannot be found.” An Ayeyarwaddy Region resident said the 16 bodies, including those of two young boys, were recovered near Pathein township, about 300 kilometers (180 miles) west of Yangon, Myanmar’s largest city. He spoke on condition of anonymity because Myanmar’s military government seeks to tightly control the flow of information. A local official, who also requested anonymity for the same reason, said most of the 50 people on board the boat were men under 30 years old. He said the bodies were buried and that the 35 survivors were taken away by the security forces. Maung Maung Than, a spokesperson for the Ayeyarwaddy Region government, confirmed that the accident happened but did not give further details. “The latest tragedy shows once again the sense of desperation being felt by Rohingya in Myanmar and in the region,” Indrika Ratwatte, UNHCR’s director for Asia and the Pacific said in the agency’s statement. “It is shocking to see increasing numbers of children, women and men embarking on these dangerous journeys and eventually losing their lives.”      

Two people including a female student of Rajshahi University (RU) went missing after a motorised boat capsized in Padma River near Harupur area in Paba upazila in Rajshahi.

Bodies of three people, who went missing following a boat capsize in Barohompur river in Kashimpur area of Ulipur upazila, were recovered on Thursday morning.   The deceased were identified as- Nuru, 60, Amena, 61 and Kamruzzaman, 42.   Moazzem Hossain, officer-in-charge of Ulipur Police Station, said  the boat carrying 50 people, who were returning after attending a marriage ceremony, sank in the river in the evening.   Four people including bride’s father, went missing after the incident while others managed to swim ashore.   A divers’ team of fire service retrieved the bodies in the morning.

A man was killed as an engine-run boat capsized in the Pashur River in Mongla upazila on Sunday morning.