World Bulletin / News Desk

Six people are feared dead in another boat mishap in Nigeria's southwestern state of Lagos.

"We learnt that a boat with 28 passengers capsized late yesterday in Majidun River, off Ikorodu city, Lagos," Ibrahim Farinloye, the spokesman for the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), told Anadolu Agency on Thursday morning.

"Local divers have been able to rescue 22 people alive but six have been declared missing," he said.

"They are feared dead because neither logical divers nor officials since deployed to the area have been able to see them," added the spokesman.

The capsized boat was carrying working class people returning from work.

"Some of those reached wore tie and 'corporate shirts,' an indication they are office workers just returning from work," Sadu Sherifat, a local resident of the area, told AA.

She said NEMA officials are still in the area on rescue mission along with marine police and men of the Nigerian Navy and National Inland Waterways Authority.

The incident came two weeks after 13 people died in Lagos in a similar boat accident.

Lagos is essentially an aquatic state surrounded by water, and many people travel by boat - mostly locally made wooden ones with poor safety measures.

Boat accidents are rampant in Nigeria, largely because most riverine travel is done via wooden canoes.

Motorized flying boats, too, are not immune from accidents – especially at night – due to poor lightning and excessive speeds.

Last year alone, more than ten major boat mishaps were reported in Nigeria.

Last September, more than 42 people were killed and 100 went missing following a major boat mishap in Niger State.