A boat capsized in north-central Nigeria yesterday, killing at least two dozen people and leaving many others missing amid a frantic rescue effort, emergency officials said. The victims, mostly women and children, drowned while travelling on the wooden boat in the Nigerian state of Niger in the Mokwa district.

According to Zainab Sulaiman, head of Nigeria’s National Emergency Management Agency in the state, the boat was carrying more than 100 passengers. The death toll could be much higher as local divers searched for survivors. So far, they retrieved 24 corpses and rescued 30 people, Sulaiman told a news agency.

The capsizing on the Niger River happened in the Gbajibo community, located 251 kilometers from Minna, the state capital.