DAKAR, Sept 28 (AFP) - Rescuers continued to search on Saturday
for almost 700 people missing and feared drowned after a passenger
ferry capsized and sank in stormy seas off the coast of the west
African nation of Senegal, as hopes were fading that any more
survivors would be found.
The Senegalese military said 41 bodies have been recovered, and
that 59 survivors had been plucked from the sea by rescue vessels
and passing fishing boats after the disaster late Thursday.
The ferry, the Joola, was carrying 796 people when it left
Ziguinchor, the main town of the southern Senegalese province of
Casamance, for the capital Dakar, officials said.
Four fishing boats during the night brought 10 shocked and
exhausted survivors and the bodies of 31 of the victims to Dakar.
Other boats arrived Friday in Dakar and in the Gambian capital of
Banjul.
Rescue services said they would continue operations all day
Saturday, enough though the chances of finding more survivors was
growing increasingly slim.
The passengers are said to have included an unspecified number
of foreigners, including some from France and other European
countries.
Prime Minister Mame Madior Boye said according to early
information the boat had capsized under the combined effects of wind
and heavy rains. "For the moment the boat's condition is not in any
doubt," she said.
Officials said the Joola, which returned to service on September
10 after more than a year under repair, overturned in a storm at
around 11:00 pm (2300 GMT) on Thursday.
One of the survivors, Patrick Sauverey, told local radio that
the ship capsized so quickly that passengers had no time to don life
jackets.
"We were watching a video," Sauverey said. "It was raining a lot
and the wind was blowing hard."
Maritime officials said on Friday the vessel had been designed
to carry only 550 people.
Some passengers on the ferry's first trip following its repair
-- when two government ministers hosted Senegalese journalists on
board -- also reported that the vessel appeared to have problems
with strong winds.
The Joola served as an important link between Dakar and
Casamance, which lie on opposite sides of Gambia's narrow territory
and river of the same name.
A rebel leader in Casamance, which has also been plagued by a
violent separatist insurgency for two decades, accused the
government of responsibility in the deaths of passengers.
Sidy Badji, leader of a separatist organisation in the
Casamance, said the sinking "resembles an organised, planned
massacre." He claimed most of the passengers had been from his
region.
He accused the government of "deliberately putting the Joola
into service in an irresponsible way despite its very bad state."
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