Flood have reportedly washed away more than 500 buried in Mariga town of Bariga Local Government Area, Niger state.

This was disclosed by the Chief Imam of Mariga Central Mosque, Alhassan Na’ibi while speaking to the News Agency of Nigeria via telephone on Tuesday.

He said: “We are now searching for over 500 corpses buried in a cemetery in Mariga town who we believe were washed away by flood in Mariga.”

Nai’bi said the community was in total confusion as it had to relocate about 100 other corpses from the cemetery to another burial ground to curb the happening.

The Chief Imam who attributed the problem to activities of illegal miners near the graveyards lamented that they never experienced such a situation in over 60 years of the cemetery.

He, however, appealed to the Niger State Government to, as a matter of urgency, come to their aid to curb the situation.