MAIDUGURI, Nigeria: At least 60 people were killed after a boat carrying mostly women and children returning from a religious festival in Nigeria’s northern Niger state capsized this week, a local official said.

About 160 people have now been rescued after the wooden boat ferrying nearly 300 passengers sank on Tuesday night on the River Niger around the Gbajibo Community, said Jibril Abdullahi Muregi, chairman of the Mokwa local government area. 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).

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

The boat was returning to Gbajibo from Mundi after the annual Maulud celebration when disaster struck, Muregi said in a statement late on Wednesday

Rescue operations are still ongoing, he said. It was not yet clear why the boat sank. Overcrowding and poor maintenance are responsible for most boat accidents on Nigerian waterways. — Agencies