Nigeria boat crash kills 15, leaves one missing

Fifteen people have been killed and another missing after a boat accident in Lagos, Nigeria’s economic capital.

The tragic incident occurred on Friday (July 8) evening, when the passenger ship was caught in the tide and capsized.

"There were 16 passengers on board at the time of the accident," Ibrahim Farinloye of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) told AFP.

He said four bodies were found on Saturday, and on Sunday the rescue team recovered 11 more bodies. The sixteenth passenger had not been found by Sunday afternoon.

According to Sarat Braimah, regional director of the Lagos State Waterways Authority (LASWA), the boat "violated the regulations concerning late voyages by setting sail at 7.45pm".

The tide caused the boat to drift and capsize, it said, adding that the passengers did not have life jackets.

The city of Lagos was developed on a lagoon site on the Atlantic Ocean.

Accidents with boats - often overloaded and poorly maintained - are common on Nigerian waterways, especially during the rainy season.

On Wednesday, two people were killed and 15 rescued when their boat capsized in Ikorodu, outside Lagos.

The tragedy occurred on Friday evening, two days after two people died in another boat accident in this city of more than 20 million people.

The Nigerian government has announced that it will take action to protect the country's natural resources and to ensure that the country's natural resources are protected from the effects of climate change, according to a report by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).