Flood death toll rises to 117 in Nigeria's Niger state, emergency official says
By
Ahmed Kingimi
, Reuters
People walk along the East-West highway severed by flooding in Niger, Nigeria, in 2022.
Photo:
PIUS UTOMI EKPEI / AFP
At least 117 people have died and several others are still missing after heavy flooding destroyed thousands of homes in Nigeria's Niger state, an emergency official said.
The death toll is a sharp rise from Thursday's figure of 21 people, Ibrahim Hussaini, head of the Niger State Emergency Management Agency, said, adding that some 3000 houses were submerged in two communities in the north-central state.
Nigeria is prone to flooding during the rainy season, which began in April.
In 2022, Nigeria experienced its worst wave of floods in more than a decade which killed more than 600 people, displaced around 1.4 million and destroyed 440,000 hectares of farmland.
The flooding incident in Niger state occurred on Wednesday night and continued into Thursday morning, Hussaini said, with a number of people still in the water.
- Reuters
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Otago Daily Times
2 days ago
- Otago Daily Times
British MPs back assisted dying bill
Britain's parliament has voted in favour of a bill to legalise assisted dying, paving the way for the country's biggest social change in a generation. The legislation passed by a vote of 314-291, clearing its biggest parliamentary hurdle. The "Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life)" law would give mentally competent, terminally ill adults in England and Wales with six months or less left to live the right to choose to end their lives with medical help. The bill now proceeds to Britain's upper chamber, the House of Lords, where it will undergo months of scrutiny. While there could be further amendments, the unelected Lords will be reluctant to block legislation that has been passed by elected members of the House of Commons. The vote puts Britain on course to follow Australia, Canada and other countries, as well as some US states, in permitting assisted dying. Prime Minister Keir Starmer's Labour government was neutral on the legislation, meaning politicians voted according to their conscience rather than along party lines. Starmer voted in favour. Supporters of the bill say it will provide dignity and compassion to people suffering, but opponents worry that vulnerable people could be coerced into ending their lives. Hundreds of people gathered outside parliament to hear news of the vote. When the result was read out, those in favour of the legislation hugged, clapped and cheered. They shouted 'victory', 'we won' and waved placards. Those opposed to it stood in silence. Emma Bray, who has motor neurone disease, said she hoped the result would help people in her condition. Bray, who is 42 and has two children, said she plans to starve herself to death next month to help relieve the pain after being told she only has six months to live. 'This result will mean that people will not have to go through the same suffering I have faced,' she told Reuters. Opinion polls show that a majority of Britons back assisted dying. Friday's vote followed hours of emotional debate and references to personal stories in the chamber and followed a vote in November that approved the legislation in principle. NARROW VOTE Opponents of the bill had argued that ill people may feel they should end their lives for fear of being a burden to their families and society. Some lawmakers withdrew their support after the initial vote last year, saying safeguards had been weakened. John Howard, a Catholic priest who led about a dozen people in prayer outside parliament while voting took place, said he worried that some people would be forced to end their lives early under pressure from family members. "I feel great sorrow and concern, particularly for the most vulnerable and disabled," he told Reuters. "This is a dark day for our country." Friday's vote took place 10 years after parliament last voted against allowing assisted dying. The 314-291 vote showed narrowing support from the 330-275 vote in favour in November. In the original plan, an assisted death would have required court approval. That has been replaced by a requirement for a judgement by a panel including a social worker, a senior legal figure and a psychiatrist, which is seen by some as a watering down. The Labour lawmaker who proposed the bill, Kim Leadbeater, said the legislation still offered some of the strongest protections in the world. "I am fully confident in the bill," she told the BBC after the vote. "The safeguards are extremely thorough, extremely robust, and I'm confident that this will help the people it needs to help." Opponents had doubts not just about the potential for coercion, but also about the impact of assisted dying on the finances and resources of the state-run National Health Service, how the law might change the relationship between doctors and their patients and whether it could mean that improvements to palliative care might now not be made. Care Not Killing, a group that opposes the law change, issued a statement calling the bill "deeply flawed and dangerous", saying that its safeguards had been weakened since November. "Members of Parliament had under 10 hours to consider over 130 amendments to the Bill, or less than 5 minutes per change. Does anyone think this is enough time to consider changes to a draft law that quite literally is a matter of life and death?" said the group's CEO, Gordon Macdonald. The law was proposed under a process led by an individual member of parliament rather than being government policy, which has limited the amount of parliamentary time allocated to it. Some lawmakers have said that such a major social change should have been allocated more parliamentary time for debate and involve a greater degree of ministerial involvement and accountability.
RNZ News
3 days ago
- RNZ News
Health scare for Real Madrid star Kylian Mbappe
Kylian Mbappé of Real Madrid controls the ball during the La Liga match against Real Sociedad de Fútbol at Santiago Bernabéu on May 24, 2025 in Madrid, Spain. Photo: GOKHAN TANER Real Madrid striker Kylian Mbappe is undergoing treatment for acute gastroenteritis at a hospital, the club has announced. Mbappe, 26, will "undergo a series of tests and follow the appropriate course of treatment", Real Madrid said. The French international sat out Real Madrid's 1-1 draw with Al Hilal on Wednesday in Club World Cup Group H play in Miami Gardens, Florida, with what the club originally said was a fever. Real Madrid has two matches remaining on their slate in the Club World Cup group stage. They will meet Mexican side CF Pachuca on Sunday at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, N.C., and then Austroa's RB Salzburg on June 26 at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia. Mbappe scored 31 goals and three assists in 34 appearances last season with Real Madrid in La Liga play. -Reuters
RNZ News
4 days ago
- RNZ News
Israeli attacks kill 140 in Gaza in 24 hours, medics say, as focus shifts to Iran
A boy carries a box of relief supplies from the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) in late May. Photo: Eyad Baba / AFP By Nidal al-Mughrabi, of Reuters Israeli gunfire and strikes killed at least 140 people across Gaza in the past 24 hours, local health officials said, as some Palestinians in the Strip said their plight was being forgotten as attention shifted to the air war between Israel and Iran. At least 40 of those killed over the past day died as a result of Israeli gunfire and airstrikes on Wednesday, Gaza's health ministry said. The deaths included the latest in near daily killings of Palestinians seeking aid in the three weeks since Israel partially lifted a total blockade on the territory. Medics said separate airstrikes on homes in the Maghazi refugee camp, the Zeitoun neighbourhood and Gaza City killed at least 21 people, while five others were killed in an airstrike on an encampment in Khan Younis in southern Gaza. Fourteen more people were killed in Israeli fire at crowds of Palestinians awaiting aid trucks brought in by the United Nations along the Salahuddin road in central Gaza, medics said. Asked about the Salahuddin road incident, the Israel Defence Forces said despite repeated warnings that the area was an active combat zone, individuals approached troops operating in the Nuseirat area in the central Gaza Strip in a manner that posed a threat to forces. Troops fired warning shots, it said, adding that it was unaware of injuries. Regarding other strikes, the IDF said it was "operating to dismantle Hamas military capabilities" while taking "feasible precautions to mitigate civilian harm". On Tuesday, Gaza's health ministry said 397 Palestinians among those trying to get food aid had been killed and more than 3000 were wounded since aid deliveries restarted in late May. Some in Gaza expressed concern that the latest escalations in the war between Israel and Hamas that began in October 2023 would be overlooked due to the new Israel-Iran conflict. "People are being slaughtered in Gaza, day and night, but attention has shifted to the Iran-Israel war. There is little news about Gaza these days," said Adel, a resident of Gaza City. "Whoever doesn't die from Israeli bombs dies from hunger. People risk their lives every day to get food, and they also get killed and their blood smears the sacks of flour they thought they had won," he told Reuters via a chat app. Israel is now channelling much of the aid into Gaza through a new US and Israeli-backed group, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which uses private US security and logistics firms and operates a handful of distribution sites in areas guarded by Israeli forces. Israel has said it will continue to allow aid into Gaza, home to more than 2 million people, while ensuring it doesn't get to Hamas. Hamas denies seizing aid, saying Israel uses hunger as a weapon. Philippe Lazzarini, head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, called the current system for distributing aid "a disgrace and a stain on our collective consciousness", in a post on X on Wednesday. The war in Gaza was triggered when Hamas-led militants attacked Israel in October 2023, killing 1200 and taking about 250 hostages, according to Israeli allies. Israel's subsequent military assault has killed nearly 55,600 Palestinians, according to Gaza's health ministry, displaced almost all the territory's residents, and caused a severe hunger crisis. The World Food Programme called on Wednesday for a big increase in food distribution in Gaza, saying that the 9000 metric tonnes it had dispatched over the last four weeks inside Gaza represented a "tiny fraction" of what was needed. "The fear of starvation and desperate need for food is causing large crowds to gather along well-known transport routes, hoping to intercept and access humanitarian supplies while in transit," the WFP said in a statement. "Any violence resulting in starving people being killed or injured while seeking life-saving assistance is completely unacceptable," it added. Palestinians in Gaza have been closely following Israel's air war with Iran, long a major supporter of Hamas. "We are maybe happy to see Israel suffer from Iranian rockets, but at the end of the day, one more day in this war costs the lives of tens of innocent people," said 47-year-old Shaban Abed, a father-of-five from northern Gaza. "We just hope that a comprehensive solution could be reached to end the war in Gaza, too. We are being forgotten." Additional reporting by Crispian Balmer and Olivia Le Poidevin - Reuters
