Boat accidents are frequent on Nigeria’s poorly regulated waterways due to overloaded boats, lack of maintenance and poor safety, particularly in the annual rainy season when rivers and lakes swell and flood.

“We are still searching for 40 passengers with the help of local divers and believe they have drowned,” said Bala Mohammed, the administrator of Yauri district, where the accident happened yesterday.

“It is a difficult search due to the high water level and strong currents as a result of the rainy season.”

Last month at least 24 bodies were recovered and 50 went missing when a boat ferrying more than 100 farmers across the Niger River in Niger state capsized, officials said.

Two days earlier 10 people drowned while three went missing when a boat ferrying traders overturned in a lake in northeastern Adamawa state, according to emergency officials.