DAKAR, Sept 30 (AFP) - The results were due Monday of a preliminary inquiry
into Senegal's worst-ever maritime disaster, in which nearly 1,000 people
were feared dead after an over-crowded passenger ferry capsized offshore
the tiny west African country of Gambia.
Bad weather was initially blamed for the disaster, which, according to a
provisional toll, had claimed 400 lives -- the number of bodies plucked
from the sea -- with an estimated 600 still missing.
The number of survivors on Monday stood at 64, with hopes of rescuers
finding anyone else alive virtually ruled out.
The capacity of the boat, the Joola, which plied the route between the
southern Senegalese province of Casamance and the capital, Dakar, 310
kilometres (190 miles) further north, was said to range from 500 to 800
passengers, depending on the cargo aboard.
The day after the tragedy, which happend last Thursday, the government
said 796 passengers and crew were aboard.
But on Sunday evening, the government announced there had been 1,034
people on board the ill-fated Joola: 797 had embarked at Ziguinchor, the
main city in Casamance, cut off from the rest of Senegal by the Gambia, a
narrow strip of a country that runs along the river by the same name.
Another 185 joined the ferry at a stop-over in Karabane, at the mouth of
the Casamance River, and there were 52 crew members on the ship.
Children and people without tickets had not been included in the initial
passenger count, raising fears the final death toll would be much higher.
A video shot by tourists as the ship set sail on its fateful last
journey on Thursday showed the Joola to be clearly listing to one side.
Passengers were massed at the ship's rails as she moved out, the skies
darkening under heavy clouds. Then the film showed the ship disappearing
into a driving rainstorm.
Some hours later, around 11:00 pm (2300 GMT) on the night of September
26, the large red-hulled vessel capsized.
On Saturday President Abdoulaye Wade acknowledged that the government
was at fault through a series of errors.
Without doubt, the vessel was too heavy, and not properly equipped for
the kinds of ocean trips it had been making for the past decade.
Wade said he expected the results of a preliminary report by Monday
evening.
Analysts were questioning whether the ship was truly seaworthy when it
was returned to service on September 10 after undergoing repairs.
Why had the alert been sounded only at 5:00 am the following day when
the disaster struck at 11:00 pm the night before?
Why had no distress signal been received from the vessel, operated since
1995 by the Senegalsese army?
The capsized Joola is expected to be towed closer to shore, an operation
that will allow more victims to be extracted from its hull.
But that operation will be difficult, the Senegalese authorities have
admitted, and it is feared that any more bodies that are pulled from the
hull will be unrecognisable.
The government has promised to return the victims' remains to their
relatives as soon as they are identified.
But so far, only the families of two of the Joola's victims have been
able to identify and reclaim the bodies of their relatives, the state of
other recovered bodies making it virtually impossible to identify them.
Wade hinted early on Sunday that unidentified victims should be laid to
rest together in a mass grave that would serve as a memorial to the
disaster.
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