No fewer than 18 persons were killed in a canoe mishap which occurred at Zango Majiya village in Itas-Gadau Local Government Area of Bauchi State on Thursday.
Five people were also rescued in the boat accident.
The incident was said to have occurred when one Nuhu Kaila of Zango Majiya village ferried 23 people who were heading for their farms.
They, however, met their untimely death when the boat capsized in the middle of the river.
The Public Relations Officer of the State Police Command, DSP Ahmed Mohammed Wakil, who announced their deaths in a statement made available to newsmen in Bauchi, the state capital, yesterday, said a medical doctor certified the 18 persons dead.
According to him, on receiving of the report, the Divisional Police Officer of Itas Gidau station and his team of policemen rushed to the scene where corpses were removed from the river and taken to General Hospital Itas for postmortem examination.
