At least 12 people have drowned after a boat sank in northern Ethiopia’s Amhara region, according to local reports.
The wooden vessel was carrying passengers across the Tekeze River, which borders Ethiopia and Eritrea, to attend a funeral. The boat capsized on Saturday after being hit by a flash flood.
There were 26 people on board when the accident occurred. Survivors were taken to hospital for treatment, including a severely wounded child, as reported by the Amhara Media Corporation (AMC).
As of Sunday, it was unclear if all the bodies of those who died had been recovered from the river.
A local official informed AMC that work on an out-of-use bridge spanning the Tekeze River, which was supposed to be completed last month, had been delayed.
Access to northern Ethiopia for media is heavily restricted by the authorities. The region has recently experienced clashes between the military and the Fano, an ethnic Amhara militia.