Boat sinks in Niger River in northern Mali, 38 dead:

Bamako (Mali), January 14: A ferry boat sank after hitting rocks in the Niger River in Timbuktu, northern Mali. Dozens of people died in this accident. Local officials and relatives of the deceased gave this information on Tuesday. Officials said that this accident happened in Dire city on Thursday. Local authorities have not yet released an official death toll, but Alcide Touré, a resident of the area and former National Assembly deputy, said 38 people died and 23 were rescued.

According to the report of America’s ABC News Channel, Dire Navasi Musa Ag Almobarak Traore said that he lost 21 members of his family in this accident.

Some eyewitnesses said that there were farmers in the boat. This accident happened at night. Docking at night is prohibited due to security measures to prevent attacks by al-Qaeda terrorists in the area. Traore said the boat’s driver did not want to wait until morning and tried to come ashore at another location, where the boat hit rocks and sank.

Mali, along with its neighbors Burkina Faso and Niger, has been fighting terrorists for decades. Terrorists from the al-Qaeda-backed Jamaat Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimeen group are active in the Timbuktu region of Mali. Accidents involving ferry boats are common on the Niger River.