15 teenagers perish in boat mishap in Kano

From Mustapha Adamu, Kano

Fifteen teenage mostly girls lost their lives in Jobawa village, Garin Malam local government area, Kano State, when the ferryboat carrying them to a village to buy cassava capsized in a river.
The girls were reported to have boarded the boat to cross the river from a suburb called Lanjan to the Jobawa village, to supply cassava, which they sell in the Garin Malam town.
According to Utubatu Yaro, a community leader in the Jobawa village, the incident happened in the evening of Monday, when a violent rainstorm heavily shook the boat beyond control of the boatman, and forced it to capsize with the teenagers on board.
” They normally come here to supply cassava and sell it out around Garin Malam town. They don’t normally stay up to evening time, but unfortunately, because God Has destined the incident will happen, they were here until Magrib (evening prayer) and there was a violent rainstorm. Upon their departure, the rain began to fall down powerfully; I believe it was the excessive rain that fell into the boat as well as the storm that overturned the boat. We have been able to find the bodies of nine of them, and we are searching for the bodies of the remaining.”
However, Mr. Yaro said that the boatman escaped unhurt, because he could swim well but could not save any of the deceased girls due to the magnitude of the rainstorm.
In the same vein, father of one of the victims, Malam Saleh, said he was shocked with the story of his 8-year old daughter’s death, adding that he must accept the incident as fateful.
When contacted, the acting Police Public Relation officer, DSP Mustapha Abubakar confirmed the incident, saying according to report available to the police, fifteen were involved in the boat mishap but five have been rescued while ten are still missing.