KANO: At least 16 people have died and scores are missing after a boat carrying hundreds of passengers capsized in north-central Nigeria, officials said Wednesday.

The passengers, mostly women and children, were on their way to celebrate the Muslim festival Mawlid when the accident took place on Tuesday, said Abdullahi Baba Arah, head of the emergency agency for Niger State.

He said the boat was carrying almost 300 people on a stretch of the River Niger at Gbajibo Community, near Mokwa, when it ran into trouble at around 8:30 pm (1930 GMT).

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He did not specify the cause of the accident, but said “brave local divers” and volunteers had helped find around 150 survivors.

So far 16 dead bodies have been found, agency spokesman Ibrahim Audu Husseini told AFP – “two females and 14 males.”

“We expect to recover more,” he said late Wednesday as the search for missing passengers continued.

Boat accidents are common on Nigeria’s poorly regulated waterways, particularly during the rainy season when rivers and lakes swell.

Last month, an overloaded boat sank while carrying more than 50 farmers across the Gummi River in Zamfara State. Over 40 are believed to have died.