Boat Capsizes in Northwestern Nigeria, Leaving Dozens of People Dead

By IBRAHIM GARBA and MOHAMMED IBRHAIM

3:02 PM EDT, August 20, 2026

SOKOTO, Nigeria (AP) — A boat capsized Thursday in a river in Nigeria ’s northwestern Sokoto state, leaving at least 47 people dead, officials and residents said.

The boat was carrying more than 80 people, most of whom were heading to farms for work in Gorau town in the Goronyo local government area of the state, officials said.

Abdulkadir Yusuf, Sokoto state manager at the National Inland Waterways Authority, said the death toll was 47 people “so far.”

Resident Samaila Garba, 55, said his 13-year-old granddaughter, Jamila Usman, was among those who died in the capsizing. He said he had counted at least 42 bodies of victims, most of them women and children. “You know, during the rainy season, most women and children go to the farm to work,” he told The Associated Press.

Another resident, Aminu Dan Hajiya, said he goes to his farm using the same waterway and he considers himself lucky to not have been on the boat. “In fact, almost every household in the community has been affected,” he said.

Usman Yusuf, a community leader in Gorau, said more than 80 passengers had boarded the boat. He said 41 people have been buried so far.

Deadly boat accidents are common in Nigeria, especially during the rainy season. A lack of enforcement of safety regulations allows faulty boats without life jackets to operate in the country. In January, at least 25 people were killed in Yobe state in a similar accident.

Mohammed Ibrahim reported from Kaduna, Nigeria. Tunde Omolehin contributed to this report.