River boat at an undisclosed location (representative photo only) Pixabay.com
Accidents

19 feared dead after river boat capsizes in northern Ethiopia

Baird Maritime

Nineteen people are believed to have been killed after a river boat carrying 26 passengers including small children capsized in a remote region of northern Ethiopia on Saturday, July 27.

State-owned media confirmed that the wooden-hulled vessel was transporting a group that was traveling to a funeral via the Tekeze River in Amhara, a war-torn region over 300 kilometres north of the capital Addis Ababa, when the incident occurred at around 12:00 local time on Saturday.

Rescuers later pulled seven survivors and the bodies of two deceased individuals, both confirmed as passengers on the ill-fated boat, from the surrounding waters. The survivors, including a small child who suffered serious injuries, have since been brought to hospital for treatment.

Initial reports stated that the boat capsized after it was hit by a flash flood. However, the BBC and other foreign news outlets said that the other details of the incident and the subsequent search and rescue/recovery operation are not yet available, as media access in this region of the country is heavily restricted by the local authorities.