1.9.2025
At least 13 people died and more than 20 are missing in Zamfara State northwest Nigeria after the boat they crowded aboard to escape an attack by armed men sank in a river, local residents and officials said.
The assailants stormed two communities in Birnin Magaji ward last weekend, sending locals fleeing towards a nearby riverbank that had a single boat, residents told Reuters.
“My eldest son and two other nieces were among the 13 people who died when the boat was heavily overloaded with people,” Shehu Mohammed, a health worker in Birnin Magaji, told Reuters.
Maidamma Dankilo, the district head of Birnin Magaji, said 13 people from the boat had been confirmed dead, 22 had been rescued and 22 were still missing.
Gunmen killed at least two people and abducted more than 100 last weekend in an attack about 150km west of Birnin Magaji.
Zamfara recorded 50 mass abductions between July 2024 and June 2025, involving 1,064 victims, according to a report this week by Lagos-based research firm SBM Intelligence. Reuters
