<div style="text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 1rem;">Many people were missing and 15 had been rescued after an over-loaded passenger boat capsized in southeast Nigeria, emergency services said Saturday.</span><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The accident on Friday occurred on the Niger river near Umunnankwo in Anambra state, an area devastated by floods.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"It's not clear how many people boarded the ill-fated boat at the time of the mishap," Chukwudi Onyejekwe of the State Emergency Management Agency told AFP.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">"We have rescued 15 people while many are missing", he said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">He said no dead had so far been recovered, but added that the search and rescue operation was ongoing.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Local media however said 85 people had boarded the boat at the Onukwu bridge, and were heading to the Nkwo market in Ogbakuba before it capsized.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Boat accidents are common in Nigeria because of over-loading, speeding, poor maintenance and disregard of traffic rules.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Since the start of the rainy season, many regions of Nigeria have been devastated by floods.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">More than 300 have been killed and at least 100,000 made homeless in the country's worst incidents since 2012, according to the emergency services.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Thousands of farmlands and crops have also been washed away by floods, sparking fear of food shortage, famine and hunger in a country already struggling with the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine. AFP</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">bnbd24/kh</div>