13 die on Brazilian tourist ship
At least 13 people died when a tourist schooner with 64 people on board capsized and sank off the coast of Brazil, local authorities said.
Nine people are still missing, Navy Lieutenant Henrique Afonso Lima said in a statement last night.
So far, the bodies of 10 women and a child, all of whom drowned, have been taken to the local medical institute, a spokesman for the Cabo Frio port authority told The Associated Press.
But there are unofficial reports that at least two more bodies have been found, said the spokesman.
Survivors said the vessel had stopped in the Itajuru canal near Cabo Frio in Rio de Janeiro state so some of them could go swimming and snorkelling.
Five minutes after the ship had restarted its trip, a large wave hit one side of the boat.
Passengers panicked and ran to the other side, which may have caused the vessel to tip over, they told the GloboNews TV station.
“A wave hit one side, it turned us over, then I didn’t see anything else,” said Juliana Garcia.
After the swimmers had got back on board, a crew member told them to take off their life jackets and put them away, she said.
“The only people using life jackets were those going snorkelling. The guy prohibited us, he told the rest of us to take off the life jackets. He didn’t want to let anyone use them,” Ms Garcia said.
“Everyone was desperate. There was no one there to help. We were just floating there,” said Edilson Nunes.
A full head count has not been carried out because various vessels joined in the rescue operations and dropped off survivors at a number of different points, the spokesman said, adding that the injured were being taken to hospitals in Cabo Frio.
The sunken vessel has been raised to the surface, and teams from the police and fire brigade continue to search for more bodies inside and around the ship.
Conditions were fine, with a light wind and moderate seas, the spokesman said.
Initial reports suggested the ship may have been overloaded but these were later discounted, as the ship’s capacity is for 78 passengers and two crew, Lt Lima said, adding that the navy has begun an investigation into the accident.
The captain of the ship had “vast experience” and was well known in the region, state tourism secretary Carlos Victor Mendes told local radio station CBN, without identifying the skipper.
All schooner trips have been suspended, he added.
“It is a lamentable accident that has shaken our city,” he said.
The vessel, called Tona Galea, was carrying tourists mainly from the city of Sao Paulo, and was returning from a day-trip to Parrot Island when it sank off the coast of the Cabo Frio city centre, around 60 miles east of Rio de Janeiro, the port spokesman said.
The navy said the ship was last inspected on December 26 and was found to be in “perfect condition” with a qualified crew.
The schooner is part of the Coopnav De Cabo Frio tourism co-operative that runs 13 schooners out of Cabo Frio.
