Man falls off passenger boat and drowns in Lakes State

An overloaded boat on the Nile. (File photo)

A man drowned after falling off a moving passenger boat along the Nile between Bor town, Jonglei state, and the Lakes State town of Awerial on Friday.

A man drowned after falling off a moving passenger boat along the Nile between Bor town, Jonglei state, and the Lakes State town of Awerial on Friday.

Elijah Thongbor Abraham, the secretary-general of the Jonglei State boat union, told Radio Tamazuj over the weekend that the boat was ferrying about 15 passengers to Awerial when the incident occurred near the Awou area on Friday afternoon.

“As the boat was approaching Awou, the deceased who was seated on the brim of the boat stood up but as he tried to sit back down, he fell off the boat,” he said.

Thongbor said the deceased’s corpse has not yet been found as efforts by the other passengers to retrieve the body were unsuccessful.

Col. John Bol Tier, the Awerial County police inspector, said investigations into the incident are ongoing.