Izuchukwu Okosi
Search teams in Gabon have reportedly recovered the dead bodies of 15 passengers of a ferry that sank off the West African country’s coast last week, bringing the provisional death toll up to 21, the coordinator of rescue operations said on Tuesday.
The Esther Miracle ferry was carrying 161 passengers from Libreville to Port-Gentil when it sank close to the coastal village of Nyonie on March 9.
Join our WhatsApp ChannelAuthorities confirmed six deaths on Monday and were still searching for 31 missing people.
Air force planes and diving teams had been sent to conduct daily search operations.
Head of rescue operations Bekale Meyong said on state television on Tuesday that 124 people had been rescued and 21 confirmed dead after 15 more bodies were fished from the shipwreck.
Ambulances have taken the bodies to mortuaries and search operations are ongoing, he added.
The government has not yet commented on the causes of the incident.
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A reporter at Libreville port saw the bodies offloaded from a boat in body bags. Some relatives rushed over in an attempt to identify them before police blocked access.
“At least now we can organise their funerals,” said Esther Mvou, who managed to recognise two family members among the dead. One of them was Mvou’s sister, whom she identified from the black tank top she was wearing when she left Libreville.
Hundreds of people have been holding vigils at Libreville port since the ferry sunk in a show of solidarity towards distraught relatives waiting for news.
They sleep out in the open and in tents provided by civil society groups and authorities.
Izuchukwu Okosi is a Nigerian sports and entertainment journalist with two decades of experience in the media industry having begun his media journey in 2002 as an intern at Mundial Sports International (MSI) and Africa Independent Television (AIT), owners of Daar Communications Plc.
