More than 750 feared dead as ferry sinks

MORE than 750 passengers and crew were feared drowned last night after a packed ferry sank in a fierce Atlantic storm off West Africa.

The state-owned Senegalese ferry Joola was off the former British colony of The Gambia when it went down shortly before midnight on Thursday.

A passing Italian ship rescued some of the 32 crew members and passengers who survived.

Wailing families and friends rushed to the port in Senegal's capital, Kara, sobbing and pounding their heads on walls.

"God have mercy! Pray! Pray everyone!" pleaded one woman, waiting with the rest for news of loved ones.

Angry men thronging the port denounced authorities, claiming the ferry had been riding low on one side, and never should have been allowed out of port.

Senegal declared three days of national mourning as the search for victims continued yesterday The first bodies retrieved from the accident were being taken back to Dakar. Prime Minister Mame Madior Boye and other state officials went to the port to be with families.

President Abdoulaye Wade cut short a trip to France to return home.

The ferry, which had just returned to service after a year undergoing repairs, was en route from Senegal's southern region of Casamance, bound for the capital Dakar.

It went down in strong gales and rain in the Atlantic Ocean off The Gambia, the small nation that divides north and south Senegal.

Ferries are the main way of transport between north and south Senegal, since travel by road is slowed by border checks passing through The Gambia.

A crowd of hundreds surrounded the locked gates of navy offices in Dakar, demanding word of the search and rescue and its results. Among the throng, a woman screamed and tore her hair, sobbing for word of her daughter. "Tell us whether she's alive," shouted the woman, seeking news of her daughter. "Can we please know whether she's alive?"

Mr Wade pledged an investigation.