Infant among eight killed in Liberia canoe tragedy

At least eight people, including a mother and her two-month-old baby, died after a canoe capsized in a river in Liberia’s north-eastern Nimba county over the weekend.

Seven of the bodies were retrieved from the Yarr River and hastily buried near the river, local authorities said.

Rescue workers on Monday said they were not hopeful of recovering the infant’s body.

The local district commissioner, Jefferson Saye Gondah, said the possibility of finding the baby’s body was “slim”.

The dead were among 18 persons returning from their farms in a dug-out canoe that capsized in the middle of the river. Ten people managed to swim to the shore.

The local town, Zahnboi, has remained tense, with grief-stricken people from nearby and distant towns coming in to help with search and rescue efforts and consoling the bereaved.

Paramount Chief Isaac Kolleh said that the situation was confusing.

Liberia has had bad roads and poor infrastructure since the country’s bloody wars ended nearly 20 years ago. Corruption and bad governance have been blamed for the lack of resources for critical interventions.

Agencies