No fewer than 166 Nigerians died yesterday when a boat capsized off the Nigerian coast.
It was gathered that the accident occurred when the passengers travelling from Oron in Akwa Ibom State to Gabon in a wooden boat died on the Calabar water channels.
An official of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Cross River, David Akate, told newsmen that about 45 corpses have been deposited at the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital.
Akate added that the boat was actually conveying 168 passengers but only two persons have been rescued.
A marine transporter at the Calabar Inland Waterways, Mr Ikechukwu Egwu, told journalists that the passengers were mostly Igbo traders.
“They are mostly Igbo traders who headed to Oron to board the wooden boat because it was cheaper,” he said.
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