Boat capsizes amid floods in southeast Nigeria; 76 missing

By CHINEDU ASADU
Associated Press

ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — Officials in southeastern Nigeria say that 76 people including many women and children are missing after a boat capsized in the region. Nigeria’s National Emergency Management Agency told The Associated Press on Monday that authorities have not been able to access the area to search for victims. Godwin Thickman, the zonal head of NEMA said that only nine people had survived the tragedy on Friday. Officials say that the boat was crowded with people fleeing floods in Nigeria’s southeast Anambra state. Nigeria is battling its worst floods in a decade blamed mainly on the release of excess water from Lagdo dam in neighboring Cameroon and unusual rainfall.