Niger State Emergency Management Agency (NSEMA) says seven more bodies of children have been recovered.
This is coming six days after a devastating flood swept through Mokwa town in Niger State
NSEMA said that four bodies were retrieved on Monday evening, while three more were found on Tuesday, bringing the official death toll to 160.
Abdullahi Baba Arah, the director general of NSEMA said the agency enlisted the help of residents to retrieve the decomposing bodies buried beneath debris.
He said, “Five more dead bodies were recovered. Four were found yesterday evening (Monday), while one was recovered this morning (Tuesday).
“Two more were later discovered this afternoon (Tuesday) along the Mokwa/Raba axis. They were children, buried under tree debris. We had to engage the services of locals to dig out the corpses. The total death toll is now 160 as of 3:45 p.m., June 3, 2025.”
READ ALSO: Rivers State Administrator Appoints 11 Permanent Secretaries
However, Niger State’s Commissioner for Humanitarian Affairs, Ahmad Suleiman, said over 200 bodies of the victims have been recovered.
Speaking on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief show on Tuesday, the commissioner said, “Nobody can tell you the number of casualties in Niger State right now because up till now, we are still looking for some corpses.
“We have more than 200 casualties or corpses but we are still looking for more.”
Meanwhile, an 18-seater commercial bus travelling north from the southern region was reportedly swept away by the floodwaters. Six days on, neither the vehicle nor its passengers have been found.
A resident, Baba Abu, said, “When the driver reached the section of the road where water was flowing across, he didn’t attempt to cross. He parked and rolled up the windows to wait for the water to subside.
“But as he waited, the water volume increased and swept the bus into the River Niger. As I speak, we still don’t know the whereabouts of the bus or the people in it.”
