More than 1,000 feared dead in ferry disaster
Only 64 people are known to have survived the ocean ferry's capsizing rescued by passing fishing boats in the early hours of Friday morning, after the Senegalese state-run MS Joola capsized in a fierce gale.
Last night, the government added 185 passengers who had boarded the ferry at a second stop en route from southern Senegal, and the 55-member crew bringing the total of those aboard to 1,034 Reports say the ferry was designed to hold no more than 600 people.
President Abdoulaye Wade, who told an anguished crowd of relatives on Saturday that the government bore responsibility, and has ordered an investigation Senegalese and Gambian authorities said they had recovered at least 352 bodies, many from inside the vessel, where victims had been trapped.
Retrieval teams piled hundreds of corpses on boats waiting to be brought offshore. "There is really a feeling of despair among the rescuers," said Mamadou Diop Thioune, with a French-funded marine centre whose divers are helping in the search. "There's simply not much hope left."
In Dakar, Senegal's capital, grieving families looked at photographs of bloated faces of the recovered dead, seeking out "There is really a feeling of despair among the rescuers," said Mamadou Diop Thioune, with a French-funded marine centre whose divers are helping in the search. "There's simply not much hope left."
In Dakar, Senegal's capital, grieving families looked at photographs of bloated faces of the recovered dead, seeking out "There is really a feeling of despair among the rescuers," said Mamadou Diop Thioune, with a French-funded marine centre whose divers are helping in the search. "There's simply not much hope left."
In Dakar, Senegal's capital, grieving families looked at photographs of bloated faces of the recovered dead, seeking out their loved ones.
