SW News: Nigeria’s president Muhammadu Buhari has confirmed that the death toll in the boat tragedy has gone up to 76. The mishap occurred in Anambra state’s Ogbaru on Friday when a boat carrying 80 people fleeing the floodwaters capsized.

The president said on Twitter that the emergency authorities confirmed the rise in the death toll. Buhari also tweeted that the authorities are trying to find the missing bodies. He has also given the required suggestions to check the safety protocols to prevent such accidents in the future.

Anambra is one among 29 of Nigeria’s 36 states to encounter acute floods this year. The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) reported that around 600,000 people were displaced due to the flood.

The tragic boat accident in Anambra was followed by a distressing flood in the neighboring north-central Kogi state that happened a week ago. According to the reports from the officials of the Kogi Red Cross Society, the drastic flood submerged buildings under monstrous flood water and the people witnessed a rise in water levels that they have never seen in a decade.

At least six people including a toddler were reported to have died in the Kogi flood. On October 1, President Buhari described the flooding as a “humanitarian tragedy.”

When Africa’s Eastern country, Somalia is experiencing severe drought, the Western part, Nigeria is sinking due to heavy showers. The United Nations has warned that famine will be hitting Somalia as the Horn of Africa continuously missed the fifth rainy season. The estimate is more serious compared to the 2011 famine, where more than a quarter of a million Somalians were killed, in it around half of them were kids.