At least 12 South Sudanese were killed and 7 others injured after a passenger boat they were traveling in flipped after colliding with another boat along the River Sobat in Ethiopia’s Mathar Woreda area on Tuesday, a local official in Nasir town in Upper Nile State said.
Duol Kuon Thien, the Nasir County commissioner told Radio Tamazuj Thursday that the collision occurred at night.
“The incident occurred at 10 pm. A boat with passengers collided with another boat that had left from the Wang-Nyang checkpoint in Nasir,” he said. “12 people were killed, 8 from Akobo, 2 from Ulang, and 2 from Nasser while 7 others were injured.”
The commissioner said the injured are being treated at health facilities in Ethiopia.
On his part, John Chol, the Akobo County Commissioner, said 7 of the dead were from Akobo.
Meanwhile, the Jonglei state information minister, John Samuel Manyuon, also confirmed the incident and said the passenger boat was broadsided by another boat.
“The boat did not sink and it is still there. What happened is that it (the passenger boat) was hit from the side by the other boat,” he explained. “Out of the dead, 7 are from Jonglei including 5 children, a man, and one woman.”