capsizes

Officials say about 10 people rescued after accident in African country’s northwestern region.

Rescuers are searching for more than 40 people who are missing after a boat capsized in Nigeria’s northwestern state of Sokoto, according to authorities.

Nigeria’s National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) said on Sunday that its Sokoto operations office had deployed a response team to support rescue efforts following the “tragic boat mishap”.

NEMA’s director general, Zubaida Umar, said the agency responded after “receiving reports that a boat conveying over 50 passengers to Goronyo Market had capsized”.

NEMA said in a statement shared on social media that about 10 people had been rescued, and more than 40 other passengers were missing.

Nigeria’s The Punch newspaper, citing a local official, said the accident may have been caused by overloading, a recurring issue for boats in the state’s riverine communities.

Boat accidents are common in Nigeria, particularly during the annual rainy season, from March to October, when rivers and lakes overflow.

At least 16 farmers died in a similar accident in Sokoto State in August 2024, when a wooden canoe carrying them across a river to their rice fields capsized.

Last month, at least 13 people died and dozens more went missing after a boat ferrying about 100 passengers capsized in Niger State, in north-central Nigeria.

Two days later, six girls drowned after a boat taking them home from farm work capsized midstream in the northwestern Jigawa State.

July 19 (UPI) — More than 30 people are dead after a tourist boat capsized in Vietnam’s Ha Long Bay on Saturday after running into a storm, officials confirmed.

The 39-foot boat was carrying 48 passengers and five crew when it rolled in stormy weather, local news outlet VNExpress International reported.

Officials have confirmed 34 bodies have been pulled from the water, with 11 people rescued.

Witnesses reported heavy rain, thunderstorms and even hail at the time of the boat’s capsize.

Ha Long Bay is a popular tourist destination located in Vietnam’s northern coastal province of Quang Ninh.

A 10-year-old boy was among those pulled alive from the capsized vessel, VietnamNet reported, adding everyone aboard the boat was Vietnamese.

Vietnam’s Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha was overseeing rescue efforts at the scene, after the boat rolled at around 3:30 p.m. IT Saturday.

Over two-dozen boats were responding to the incident, including those driven by other tour operators, local police, the Vietnamese Coast Guard and Vietnam People’s Navy.

“Water levels are currently low, which aids access to the wreck,” told VietnamNet in an interview.

“However, the salvage operation must be calculated carefully to ensure the safety of rescuers.”

The boat carrying 53 people tipped over as Storm Wipha approached the country across the South China Sea.

At least 27 people were killed after a tourist boat capsized in stormy weather in Vietnam‘s Halong Bay.

The boat carrying 53 people tipped over around 2pm local time (07:00 GMT) on Saturday as Storm Wipha approached the country across the South China Sea. Strong winds, heavy rainfall and lightning were reported in the area.

Rescue teams found 11 survivors and recovered 27 bodies, eight of them children, the state-run Vietnam News Agency reported, citing local authorities.

There has been no official announcement on the nationalities of the tourists. Most of those on board were families visiting from the capital Hanoi, with more than 20 children among the passengers, the news outlet VNExpress said.

One of the rescued children, a 10-year-old boy, told state-run VietnamNet: “I took a deep breath, swam through a gap, dived, then swam up. I even shouted for help, then I was pulled up by a boat with soldiers.”

Rescue efforts continued into the night to find people still missing.

Vietnam’s Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh sent his condolences to the families of the deceased.

Authorities will “investigate and clarify the cause of the incident and strictly handle violations”, a statement on the government’s website said.

Halong Bay is one of Vietnam’s most popular tourist destinations, with millions of people visiting its blue-green waters and rainforest-topped limestone islands each year.

Last year, 30 vessels sank at boat lock areas in coastal Quang Ninh province along Halong Bay after Typhoon Yagi brought strong winds and waves.

Weather linked to Storm Wipha also knocked down several trees in Hanoi, 175km (110 miles) away from Halong Bay, and disrupted air travel.

Noi Bai Airport said nine arriving flights were diverted to other airports, and three departing flights were temporarily grounded on Saturday.

Rescue effort under way after boat carrying 18 people capsizes in bad weather off the Mentawai Islands.

Rescuers in Indonesia are searching for 11 people who went missing after a boat capsized in bad weather off the Mentawai Islands in West Sumatra province, according to a local search and rescue agency.

Dozens of rescuers and two boats were at the site of the disaster on Tuesday, and seven of the 18 people on board the boat have been rescued, the agency said in a statement.

The vessel capsized at about 11am on Monday (04:00 GMT) as it sailed around the Mentawai Islands.

It had departed Sikakap, a small town in the Mentawai Islands, and was heading to another small town, Tuapejat. Of 18 people on board, 10 were local government officials.

“Our focus is on combing the area around the estimated accident site to find all victims,” said Rudi, the head of the Mentawai search and rescue agency.

He did not give a cause for the boat capsizing, but marine accidents are a regular occurrence in the Southeast Asian archipelago of approximately 17,000 islands, in part due to lax safety standards or bad weather.

On July 3, a ferry carrying 65 people sank off the popular resort island of Bali, killing at least 18 people.

In March, a boat carrying 16 people capsized in rough waters off Bali, killing an Australian woman and injuring at least one other person.

In 2018, more than 150 people drowned when a ferry sank in one of the world’s deepest volcanic lakes on Sumatra island.