May i join all to send my deepest condolences to the Senegalese people and ofcourse other nationals
alike who died in this tragic incident.May the Almighty bless their souls and grant them jannah,Ameen.
Fye Samateh.
----- Original Message -----
From: Ndey Jobarteh
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Monday, September 30, 2002 11:44 AM
Subject: Re: Survivors of Senegal's ferry disaster tell their stories
My condolences to the families of the death and solidarity to the Senegalese and Cassamance people for this tragic incident.
Deepest Sympathy and Solidarity
Ndey Jobarteh
>From: Momodou Camara
>Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Survivors of Senegal's ferry disaster tell their stories
>Date: Sun, 29 Sep 2002 07:54:11 -0500
>
>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.
>
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