>From: Momodou Camara <[log in to unmask]> >Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list <[log in to unmask]> >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. > >~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > >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] > >~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~