A boat carrying over 70 mourners capsized on the Buruku River in Buruku Local Government Area of Benue State on Saturday morning, October 3, 2026.
The incident occurred around 11 am as the passengers were returning from a burial ceremony. The mourners were from Mbayon in Gboko Local Government Area and were crossing to the other side of the river.
The Chairman of Buruku Local Government Area, Raymond Zege, confirmed the incident. He said the boat was overloaded and its engine developed a fault mid-river, causing panic among occupants who were not conversant with water.
An eyewitness said the wooden boat was severely overloaded with passengers and over 30 motorcycles before the engine failed. Another boat reportedly came to rescue them, but they ran into water waves and the weight made it sink.
More than 70 people were on board. About six to seven people are yet to be accounted for as search and rescue operations were ongoing as of Saturday afternoon.
