At least 50 dead after overloaded boat capsizes in northwestern Nigeria

An overloaded boat capsized in a river in Sokoto state in northwestern Nigeria, leaving at least 50 people dead, local authorities confirmed on Thursday.

The boat was reportedly carrying people heading to work on farms, but local officials and residents said that at least 40 children were among the casualties.

"I can confirm that so far ​around 40 corpses of children have ​been," said Abdulkadir Yusuf, an area manager of the National Inland Waterways Authority, in a statement to the Reuters news agency.

One resident, Samaila Garba, said his 13-year-old granddaughter was among the dead. He said he had counted at least 42 bodies of victims, most of them women and children.

"During the rainy season, most women and children go to the farm to work," he told the Associated Press.

Dahir Kure, a spokesman for the National Emergency Management Agency in Sokoto state, told the AFP news agency that rescue operations were underway.

"We are now at the scene of the boat accident and have begun rescue work," he said.

One former local councilor, Ibrahim Musa, described the situation as "bad," adding: "We already buried 46 bodies, and five others have just been brought out of the river."

Deadly boat accidents are common in Nigeria, especially during the rainy season, with scores of people dying each year as a result of overloaded boats, poor maintenance or failure to comply with safety regulations.

In January, at least 25 people were killed in Yobe state in the northeast of the country in a similar accident.