UAE expresses solidarity with Nigeria over flood victims
The UAE has expressed its solidarity with Nigeria over the victims of the floods that swept through the town of Mokwa in Niger State, northern Nigeria, killing dozens of people and causing extensive damage.
In a statement, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed its sincere condolences to the families of the victims, the Nigerian government, and the friendly Nigerian people over this painful loss.
Flash flooding earlier this week in central Nigeria killed more than 150 people, a local disaster response spokesman told AFP on Saturday, while displacing 3,000, levelling more than 250 homes and washing away two bridges.
The sharp jump from the previous death toll of 115 came as bodies were recovered nearly 10 kilometres (6 miles) away from the town of Mokwa, the epicentre of the floods, Ibrahim Audu Husseini, a spokesman for the Niger State Emergency Management Agency, told AFP.
As Husseini warned that the toll could still rise - with bodies being swept away down the powerful Niger River - President Bola Tinubu said that search-and-rescue operations were underway, with the disaster response being aided by security forces.
Tinubu, in an overnight post on social media, added that "relief materials and temporary shelter assistance are being deployed without delay" in Mokwa, which was hit by torrential rains late on Wednesday through to early on Thursday.
Buildings collapsed and roads were inundated in the town, which is located more than 350 kilometres (215 miles) by road from the capital Abuja, an AFP journalist in Mokwa observed on Friday.
Emergency services and residents searched through the rubble as floodwaters flowed alongside.
"Some bodies were recovered from the debris of collapsed homes," Husseini said, adding that his teams would need excavators to retrieve corpses.
He said many were still missing, citing a family of 12 where only four members had been accounted for as of Friday.
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