No fewer than 100 persons, including a father and his four children, have lost their lives in a boat mishap at Egbu village, Patigi Local Government Area of Kwara State.

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It was gathered the incident happened on Monday when the deceased was returning from a marriage ceremony at neighbouring Egboti village in Niger State.

Though there are different accounts of the incident, many believed that the river waves forced the boat to hit a tree, leading to the mishap.

The entire Egboti community has been thrown into mourning as no fewer than 50 bodies have so far been recovered from the incident at press time.

Sources also said the boat was carrying over 300 passengers on a return trip from the venue of the marriage ceremony when it went under at Egbu village.

The people, who gave details of the incident, said 69 persons lost their lives from Egbu village, 36 from Gakpan village and four from Kpada village.

The state police command’s Public Relations Officer, Mr Okasanmi Ajayi, said there was a scanty report of a boat that capsized carrying about 100 people in a village in Patigi, adding: “I will give you details on the incident as soon as I get more information.”