Johanesburg — Three days after a Senegalese ferry capsized in a storm off the coast of Gambia, there is growing public anger and fading hopes that more of the almost 800 passengers listed on board the Joola could be rescued.
Some 300 bodies -- many of them children -- were retrieved from the River Gambia on Saturday, as Senegal's president, Abdoulaye Wade, acknowledged his government's responsibility for his country's worst maritime tragedy. It could rank possibly among the most disastrous in the world.
Early Saturday, one official said 104 people had been rescued. Later in the day, the Senegalese prime minister, Mame Madior Baye, brought that figure down to 63 survivors. She said there was a slim chance of finding any more people alive. Hundreds more were still missing by Sunday, presumed perished. The Joola, which did not sink deeply when it capsized, was reported to have been set upright, to be towed towards the Gambian coast.
[Late Sunday, the Senegalese government announced that the ferry was carrying 1,034 people, almost double the boat's official capacity, and that only 64 survivors had been found.]
"The responsibility of the state is obvious. I believe there was an accumulation of errors," said Wade, admitting the state-run ferry, operated by the navy, was "overcrowded". It was loaded with 796 passengers, but the Joola had the capacity to carry just 550. Wade came out of the presidential palace to address an angry crowd of Senegalese protesters who had gathered to demand some answers and truth about the ferry disaster.
The ship went down in stormy seas and high winds on Thursday night. This prompted questions and mounting criticism about the vessel's seaworthiness, although the ferry had only recently resumed service, after undergoing repairs. Most of the people aboard were Senegalese, including many schoolchildren traveling to the capital, Dakar, to start the new school year.
Wade told the Senegalese that the Joola was not fit to take to the open seas and that "it was a boat designed for lakes. It was not made for the sea". He said the families of the victims would receive compensation.
The local independent press has also blamed the government for the tragedy. "Criminal negligence," shouted a front page headline from Le Sud newspaper, adding that the Joola, "should never have taken to the sea".
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Another paper, Walfadjri angrily editorialized that the disaster was due to 'negligence' and 'technical failings' which had affected the engines. Walfadjri denounced the government, calling its decision to allow the ferry back into service "criminal populism".
Distressed relatives assembled at the quayside at Dakar port, and hospitals in the city, desperate for any news of their loved ones.
The ferry was heading to Dakar from the southern port of Ziguinchor -- the main town in Senegal's trouble Casamance province. Boat transport has become popular between the two cities, because a simmering 20-year rebellion has made road travel hazardous.
Survivors reported that the Joola sank within minutes. "Everything happened so quickly. The boat overturned in less than five minutes. I heard the crying of the children and it was terrible," one survivor told reporters. Another said "It was horrible, because we were hearing people screaming from underneath." Those who managed to escape remained on top of the capsized boat for two hours overnight on Friday, while fishing trawlers, braving choppy seas, raced to their rescue.
Wade has declared three days of mourning.
The United Nations' secretary general, Kofi Annan, sent his condolences to the government of Senegal and the families and friends of the victims.
