Hundreds missing as ferry sinks

Citation

(2003), "Hundreds missing as ferry sinks", Disaster Prevention and Management, Vol. 12 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/dpm.2003.07312aab.001

Hundreds missing as ferry sinks

Hundreds missing as ferry sinks

Survivor: "the boat went down so fast" – Dakar, Senegal (CNN)

Rescue ships swarmed the waters off the Gambian coast early Saturday trying to find survivors, a day after a Senegalese ferry sank in a storm with nearly 800 people onboard. The ferry Joola sank in a fierce gale, and 88 passengers were confirmed dead Friday. The bodies of 676 others are believed to be trapped inside the capsized vessel, The Associated Press (AP) reported. A total of 32 of the 796 crew and passengers survived, rescued by boats in the area that responded to an alert, according to AP. "The boat went down so fast. It was so unbelievable in just three minutes, the boat went down", survivor Moussa Ndong told The Associated Press by telephone from a hospital in neighbouring Gambia. "It was horrible, because we were hearing people screaming from underneath", Ndong said. Ndong said the storm brewed quickly and the wind gained speed and the boat started tipping over to one side, water rushing into the cabin. When the lights went out, he said, passengers started screaming. Many survivors stayed on top of the capsized vessel for two hours, until fishing boats arrived to pluck them off. The government announced it had sought the aid of the French military, which has a base in Senegal, and had marshalled the efforts of nine government agencies in a search and rescue effort coordinated by the country's military.

Dive teams recovered 88 bodies and believed corpses of the 676 others were trapped inside the ferry, which was floating on its side in the water, Mamadou Diop Thioune, a coordinator of a French-funded marine centre told AP.

The centre's divers were helping spearhead the search. Divers spotted a number of corpses through the ferry windows, Diop said. "Now, I'm afraid, it's a matter of recovering bodies", he said, adding that searchers were waiting for the arrival of military divers with equipment to cut into the boat. The first corpses retrieved from the accident were being taken back to Dakar Friday afternoon. Angry men thronged the port and denounced authorities, claiming the ferry had been riding low on one side, and never should have been allowed out of port, The AP reported. The ferry – which had restarted operations only two weeks ago after being out of service for repairs for more than a year – sank off the Gambian coast Thursday night as it headed from Ziguinchor in Casamance province to Dakar. Gambia is completely surrounded by Senegal and the Atlantic Ocean. Local journalist Diadie Ha told CNN: "The weather conditions were very, very bad. We know it was very windy and there was a big storm". Ha said local reports had raised doubts as recently as last week over the ferry's condition.

Find this article at: http://www.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/africa/09/27/senegal.ferry/index.html