ADDIS ABABA, June 19 (Xinhua) -- A boat capsized in Ethiopia's central Oromia regional state, leaving seven people dead, an Ethiopian official said on Tuesday.
Achalew Alemu, Chief Public Relations Officer at East Shoa zone police department, Oromia regional state, said the boat was travelling on Awash river with 18 people on board, when it capsized on Saturday morning, reported state media Ethiopia News Agency.
Alemu said 11 of the passengers were saved from drowning by the local community, while six were declared missing until their bodies were recovered on Tuesday morning. One other passenger's drowned body was recovered shortly after the boat accident on Saturday.
He further said four of the dead come from one family including a mother and her 11-year-old daughter.
Police has determined the cause of the accident to be a sudden increase in the volume of Awash river water that led to the capsizing of the boat.
