At least 12 people, including seven children from one family, were killed in a boat accident in the Kaka Tijaria area of Manyo County, Upper Nile State on Sunday.

An official of the local boat union said the boat with 28 passengers on board and headed to Malakal, sank in the Nyanwar area.

William Omay, head of the River Boats Association in Renk County, told Radio Tamazuj Monday that the ill-fated boat moved from a landing site in Al-Geger, north of Renk town, and was heading to Malakal town with a load of 350 bags of sorghum and 13 passengers, according to the passenger manifest.

He denied that the union knew about the other 16 passengers.

“What happened on Sunday was a very tragic boat accident. The boat was traveling from Geger, loaded with 350 bags of sorghum and 13 passengers who were listed on the manifest in Geger,” Omay explained. “When the boat reached Nyanwa, it sank. We are still collecting information, but we heard that 12 people died, including 7 children.”

He added: “We are still following up to get concrete information. One of our officials has gone to the scene to collect the facts. We learned that there are 16 survivors and were told that the boat was overloaded and there were also high winds which made it sink.”

Omay said the body of a child was found in the boat in the Kit Guang area.

For his part, Joseph William, the police boss in Kaka Tijaria, confirmed the accident and said they received a report late on Sunday evening that a boat sank in the Nyanwar area and the police evacuated 16 survivors from the scene of the accident.

The police said preliminary information indicates that high winds caused the accident and that efforts are underway to search for the missing people.

According to the survivors, 12 people, including children, women, and the crew of the boat are still missing.