[ 2012-09-01 ]

About 30 feared drowned in Guinea boat accident
CONAKRY (AFP) - About 30 people were believed to
have drowned after an overloaded boat sank off the
coast of Guinea, as rescue workers said Saturday
they had given up hope of finding survivors after
an all-night search.

"We are continuing the search without hope of
finding survivors, that means about 30 are already
dead," rescue official Lanfia Camara told AFP.

"It is difficult and even unthinkable that we
could find a survivor in the water after more than
15 hours without rescue. None of the passengers
were wearing a life vest when they boarded."

The pirogue, a flat-bottomed boat used by
fishermen and for transport, capsized a few
minutes after setting off for Kassa Island which
lies several kilometres (miles) from the capital
Conakry on Friday.

Camara said authorities at the Boulbinet Port
jetty were to blame as they "don't even know how
many people boarded" the boat.

A paramilitary police officer had told AFP that a
total of 58 people were on the boat, which had the
capacity to carry about 20 people, when it went
down in the Atlantic.

"The pilot of the boat was doing his first
voyage," he said on condition of anonymity.
Officials at the scene said many women and babies
were believed to have been aboard.

Doctor Mohamed Awada, director-general of a
Conakry hospital, confirmed eight bodies had been
found and 27 people saved.

"The eight dead drowned and the 27 survivors are
suffering more or less from trauma and fear. They
were retrieved by fishermen and security forces."

Scores of weeping family members crowded the
morgue and hospital for news of their loved ones,
an AFP journalist said.

One of the survivors, Aissata Camara, a women in
her sixties, said the boat had been carrying large
bags of "cement and flour".

A similar accident in July left about 20 people
dead when a boat capsized on the way from Conakry
to Freetown in neighbouring Sierra Leone.

Source - AFP

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