Rescuers continued to search this morning 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, Le Diola, 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 yesterday 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 ship, which returned to service on September 10th after more than a year under repair, overturned in a storm at around 11 p.m. 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.
AFP