BAMAKO: Twenty people died when a boat on the Niger river broke up overnight near the central Malian city of Mopti, a rescue services official said Saturday, adding that another 23 people were missing.
"We don't know yet why the boat broke up," Commander Dramane Diallo told AFP, adding: "Investigations are under way. The boat broke at the stern" in a branch of the river near the village of Koubi, with 210 survivors.
He said the large dugout was also loaded with goods. No further details were immediately available.
Those rudimentary canoes are the main means of transportation for residents of Mali's central and northern regions travelling to the towns dotting the Niger, the main river in West Africa.
The Niger is more than 2,500 miles long. It connects landlocked Mali's arid north to the more fertile south.
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