Chairman of Shagari Council area, Alhaji Aliyu Dantani, who disclosed the accident to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday, in Sokoto, said the incident occurred on Tuesday evening.
Dantani said of the 26 recovered corpses, 21 were women while five were children, adding that a search and rescue mission was ongoing.
The council boss, however, said the actual number of passengers in the boat could not be immediately ascertained.
According to him, local divers were currently in the river to see how to either recover bodies or rescue survivors.