Dozens of people are thought to be dead after a boat accident in the River Niger in Nigeria

Authorities and locals said on Wednesday that they thought dozens of people were dead after a boat bringing mostly women and children back from a religious festival capsized in northern Nigeria.

Abdullahi Baba Arah, head of the Niger State Emergency Management Agency, said that the almost 300 people who were on board the wooden boat that sank in the River Niger around 8:30 p.m. (1930 GMT) on Tuesday.

He also said that 150 people had been saved by rescue workers and volunteers from Niger’s rural Mokwa local government area.

Arah said in a statement, “The search and rescue operation is still going on to find more survivors.”

Ismaila Umar, who is in charge of a group of boat captains in Mokwa, told Reuters that it would be hard to find anyone who was still alive.

This would be the second big disaster of this kind to happen in Niger state in 18 months. The first one killed more than 100 people on a boat.

Most boat accidents in Nigeria happen because of too many people on the water and poor upkeep.