Tragedy struck in Makurdi, the Benue State capital, on Saturday night as at least 11 mourners—including a pregnant woman and six children were feared dead after a boat conveying them from a burial ceremony capsized on the River Benue.

The accident occurred between 7:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. during a torrential downpour accompanied by severe, destructive winds that swept across the state capital, making navigation on the river treacherous.

The victims, who were residents of Daududawadawa—an island settlement situated behind the Nigerian Army School of Military Engineering (NASME) Barracks in the North Bank area of Makurdi—had traveled earlier in the day to the Wadata suburb of the town to attend the burial rites of a deceased woman from their community.

According to Nura Umar, the Commander of Operation Shara (Sweep), a local vigilante group operating in the North Bank axis, the boat was transporting over 40 passengers on its ill-fated return trip across the river when it was caught in the heavy storm halfway through the journey and overturned.

Local divers and emergency rescue teams were immediately mobilized to the scene. So far, four bodies have been recovered from the river and buried, while intensive search operations remain underway to locate the remaining missing passengers. Among the survivors was a woman who had a baby strapped to her back during the crossing, but tragically lost the child to the waves when the vessel capsized.

When contacted for an official briefing, the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) of the Benue State Command, DSP Udeme Edet, stated that the command had not yet received a formal statutory report regarding the maritime incident.