DAKAR, Sept 28 (AFP) - "There was a huge gust of wind, a squall," said
Pierre Coly, one of the few surivors so far fished from the sea off the
Senegalese coast, telling of his ordeal in the ferry disaster that could
have cost more than 700 people their lives.
Coly said Saturday he owed his life to his choice of seat -- next to a
window -- that allowed him to jump into the sea as the Joola rolled over
and sank in high winds with about 800 people aboard.
Once in the water, he found himself among other survivors including
soldiers, who were clinging onto buoys and life jackets as the vessel went
down Thursday.
"They told me to stay there and wait for rescue," Coly told reporters
from his hospital bed in Dakar's Dantec hospital. He does not remember
when he was finally picked up by a fishing boat.
It was the wind, not overcrowding, that caused the boat to overturn,
he said. "If the boat had been pointing into the wind, and not across it,
it wouldn't have sunk."
The authorities said a total of around 60 survivors have been rescued
from the sea and taken to hospitals in Senegal and neighbouring Gambia --
leaving the vast majority of the passengers feared drowned.
Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade said Saturday 150 more bodies have
been found in and around the wreck of the ferry, bringing the confirmed
death toll to nearly 200.
Another young man, Ousmane Keita, said that as the boat leaned
over, "the water rose very fast and in barely five minutes it had sunk".
Keita clung to a life jacket until a fishing trawler arrived and plucked
him from the sea.
On Saturday reporters went to a Dakar hospital with Prime Minister Mame
Madior Boye, and were for the first time able to talk to the few dozen
survivors for the first time since the tragedy.
One soldier who had been on the ferry refused to speak to the press,
saying he had a duty to preserve secrecy.
The government has already come in for criticism for allowing the Joola
to return to service earlier this month in a condition some press reports
suggest was less than seaworthy, despite a year of repair work.
The first witness accounts of the disaster came from survivors who were
taken to neighbouring Gambia on Friday, among them a Frenchman who lost his
partner in the disaster, when he said the boat had overturned in "two or
three minutes".
"Most of the passengers were asleep," the man who did not give his name
told French RTL radio. "But I managed to get out and climb onto the back of
the boat with other survivors."
He and the other survivors in Banjul, Gambia were due to be flown to
Dakar later on Saturday, sources said.
The Joola was en route from Senegal's southern province of Casamance --
wedged between Gambia and neighbouring Guinea Bissau -- and neighbouring
Guinea Bissau, when it sank on Thursday night at around 2300 GMT.
-------------------------
Death toll from Senegalese ferry sinking rises to 350
BANJUL, Sept 28 (AFP) - The bodies of about 300 victims who drowned when a
Senegalese ferry sank overnight Thursday are expected to arrive in the west
African state of Gambia on Saturday, local officials said, bringing the
total number of bodies recovered to 350.
The Joola was carrying almost 800 people when it went down in stormy
seas on Thursday night off the coast of Gambia as it was heading to the
Senegalese capital of Dakar.
Local naval officials in the port of Banjul said two boats were due to
arrive carrying a total of 309 bodies. A further 41 had been recovered on
Friday, while 61 people have been rescued.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface
at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html
To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to:
[log in to unmask]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
|
