LAGOS, Nigeria (VOICE OF NAIJA)-No fewer than eight persons including a bride-to-be, has died in Gusau, Zamfara State after a boat in which they were sailing, capsized.
About 11 people were reportedly sailing to reach the other side of the river on the outskirts of Gusau, in search of water.
However, four women and four men drowned while three others were able to swim to safety.
A resident in Unguwan Bugaje, Gusau simply identified as Halilu, who spoke in an interview with BBC Hausa Service, on 8 May, in Kaduna, said the water in the Gusau river could only be used to wash clothes but not good for consumption.
Halilu revealed that the victims were on a mission to fetch water in a river close to Gusau when the canoe they were in capsized.
He said people usually used the boat to cross over to the other side of the river where some well-to-do individuals dug boreholes from where the people could get drinking water.
He lamented that a young lady who died was about to be married as the prospective groom had already presented the required materials for their marriage to her family.
“We have rescued four persons alive and evacuated eight dead bodies.
“We are still searching for more dead bodies because there were over 20 people in the canoe,” he added.
He appealed to the state government to provide water to the state capital, lamenting that, “There has been no water supply to Gusau town in the last one week.”
The state Commissioner for Water Resources, Ibrahim Isa, in a statement with Punch metro, stated that normal water supply had been restored to the town.
He also countered the claim that that the victims were on their way to fetch water when the accident occurred.
“Those who died in the river as a result of the boat accident did not go there to fetch water.
“They were going somewhere on another mission when the incident happened,” he said.