A boat accident has claimed the lives of 24 people and left others missing in Mokwa Local Government Area of Niger State.

Confirming the incident which occurred on Sunday afternoon, that left the affected communities mourning, Chairman of the Mokwa Local Government Area, Jibrim Muregi, told reporters that 21 dead bodies were recovered.

Muregi noted that the divers were making efforts to rescue more victims or recover more bodies, revealing that three community members of Gbajibo, Ekwa and Yankeiade were affected.

Meanwhile, the Governor of Niger State, Mohammed Bago, has expressed shock at the loss of lives through a boat accident that claimed scores of lives in the State, as he called for the use of life jackets for people boarding a boat.

The governor made this known on Sunday in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Bologi Ibrahim, in which the governor described the accident as both terrible and undesirable.

According to the statement, the accident occurred in communities between the Jebba and Kainji dams in the Mokwa Local Government Area of the state.

Bago said, “This is quite a shocking and sorrowful situation to the people of the affected communities and I share in their sorrow. I pray that Allah will grant the deceased Aljannah Firdausi”.

While commiserating with the families of the victims, the Governor directed the Niger State Emergency Management Agency, to do the needful to ameliorate the sufferings of the people.