Dozens of people thought to have been prospecting for gold are feared drowned after a boat with 200 passengers on board sank in Nigeria, writes Euronews.

Many of the passengers were returning from a newly discovered gold vein, a local resident said.

The “overloaded” vessel broke in two before it went down in the Niger River, Times Now News reported. A boat ferrying about 200 people capsized in the northwestern Nigerian state of Kebbi on Wednesday but the number of casualties remains unclear, a state spokesman said.

The wooden boat capsized near Wara, a town on the shores of Kainji Lake, part of the Niger River, said Yahaya Sarki, a spokesman the governor of Kebbi.