2009 Sierra Leone ferry accident

Last updated

The accident occurred off the coast of Sierra Leone (pictured). LocationSierraLeone.svg
The accident occurred off the coast of Sierra Leone (pictured).

The 2009 Sierra Leone ferry accident occurred on 8 September 2009 off the coast of Sierra Leone, when a wooden Teh Teh [1] ferry travelling from Shenge village to Tombo sank during a storm. At least 90 people to date have been confirmed dead, and over 100 others have been listed as "missing". [2] So far, only 39 survivors have been rescued. [3] Several of the passengers were children who had been on holiday, [3] though the official passenger manifest did not include them. [1] An attempted rescue operation ended on 11 September. [2] The sinking is the worst such accident in Sierra Leone since 2002, when a boatful of refugees capsized. [1] [4] The Xinhua News Agency in China has likened the disaster to other major marine accidents in recent years. [1] [5]

Contents

Sierra Leone's police initially indicated there were only 150 people on the ferry when it sank; however, it has since been determined that there were far more aboard. [6] There were actually about 200 passengers who had booked passage on the stricken boat; moreover, the captain allowed extra passengers to board, placing the true figure in doubt. [2] Sierra Leone's transport ministry has suggested there may have been 300 people on board. [1]

Rescue

A survivor alerted authorities to the incident after arriving onshore aboard a 20-litre plastic container. [7] [8] After launching a rescue mission, the initial search party found the ferry afloat. [1] Relatives of those on board flocked to Tombo to hear what had happened to their loved ones, [1] with several "bitterly criticis(ing)" the lengthy delays at rescue attempts. [7] [8] Musu Conteh, whose child went missing in the shipwreck, claimed a search did not get underway for 10 hours. [7] Several of the rescued were described as being in "serious condition". [9] One of the survivors, Alimamy Bangura, said the ferry had been "tossed around like a piece of paper". [7] Another survivor, Sam Kelfala, said "the heavy weight of drums of palm oil and other goods trapped many of the people". [10]

The 90 corpses which were recovered were all buried. [2] Thirty of them were unrecognisable and were placed in a mass grave. [2] Attempts have been made to recover more corpses from the sea. [2]

Further survivors were not expected to be found due to sea turbulence and currents, which would have hampered efforts to swim ashore. [1] However, search-and-rescue efforts persisted for several days, [1] [2] with local fishermen assisting the navy. [9] Many corpses have been washed up on the shoreline. [6] [7] 120 bodies were buried on 12 September 2009. [11]

Cause

Severe weather and overloading have been blamed for the sinking. [1] [3] [7] The boat did not carry lifejackets, and was built to hold only sixty passengers. [3] [6] [12] Edible palm oil was also being carried on board, [3] [12] as well as kolanuts and rice bags. [7] [8] The captain, Thaim Bundu, was said to have "ignored warnings" about dangerous conditions. [13] One survivor, an Alfred Smith, said Bundu was "wholly responsible", while another survivor, Bintu Sinneh, claimed the captain was arrogant in the face of concerns from passengers. Bundu perished in the sinking. [13]

Reaction

Sierra Leone's President, Ernest Bai Koroma, was said to be "very sad" in the wake of the tragedy. [7] Ibrahim Ben Kargbo, Sierra Leone's Information Minister, said the shipwreck would be "thoroughly investigated". [7] [8] International assistance has been offered. [2]

Related Research Articles

MV <i>Le Joola</i> Senegalese ferry which sank off the coast of The Gambia in 26 September 2002

MV Le Joola was a Senegalese government-owned roll-on/roll-off ferry that capsized off the coast of The Gambia on 26 September 2002, with 1,863 deaths and 64 survivors. It is thought to be the third-worst non-military disaster in maritime history.

MS <i>al-Salam Boccaccio 98</i> Egyptian Ro/Ro passenger ferry

The MS al-Salam Boccaccio 98 was an Egyptian Ro/Ro passenger ferry, operated by El Salam Maritime Transport, that sank on 3 February 2006 in the Red Sea en route from Duba, Saudi Arabia, to Safaga in southern Egypt.

MV <i>Princess of the Stars</i> Philippine passenger ferry, sank disastrously

MV Princess of the Stars was a passenger ferry owned by Filipino shipping company Sulpicio Lines, that capsized and sank on June 21, 2008, off the coast of San Fernando, Romblon, at the height of Typhoon Fengshen, which passed directly over Romblon as a Category 2 storm. 814 people died.

Sinking of MV <i>Teratai Prima</i>

The sinking of MV Teratai Prima occurred on 11 January 2009, around 04:00 local time when a ferry carrying more than 300 people capsized in the Makassar Strait off West Sulawesi, Survivors stated that the ferry had been slammed by 4-metre (13 ft) waves twice. The first one hit so hard that the ship became unbalanced, before another wave hit from a different direction and sank the vessel.

MV <i>Princess Ashika</i>

The MV Princess Ashika was an inter-island ferry which operated in the South Pacific kingdom of Tonga. This motorised vessel (MV) was built in 1972, and began sailing the Tongan route on 7 July 2009 only to sink less than a month later on 5 August. Official figures released by Operation Ashika on 19 August 2009, confirmed that 54 men were rescued, and 74 people were lost at sea. These include two bodies recovered and 72 missing, including five foreign nationals. Two of the missing passengers remain unidentified.

The 2009 Kiribati ferry accident was the sinking, on 13 July 2009, of an inter-island ferry in the south Pacific nation of Kiribati. The accident is believed to have killed 33 of the ship's 55 passengers and crew.

SuperFerry 9 Ferry which sank off the southwest coast of Zamboanga Peninsula, Philippines (2009)

SuperFerry 9 was a ferry owned by the Philippines-based carrier Aboitiz Transport System Corp (ATSC) and operated by their SuperFerry division. About 9 a.m. Sunday, September 6, 2009, she sank off the south-west coast of Zamboanga Peninsula with a total of 971 passengers and crew aboard.

Shenge is a coastal fishing town along the Atlantic Ocean in Moyamba District, Southern Province, Sierra Leone. Shenge is the seat of the Kagboro Chiefdom, part of the third level of administration. The dense coastal jungle has prevented development of a good road network, and the Shenge is still most easily reached by boat. The local small fishing and passenger boats that travel among the coastal towns are known as pampas in Sierra Leone.

The 2010 West Bengal Ferry Sinking was an incident which occurred on Saturday, 30 October 2010, when an over-crowded ferry carrying Muslim pilgrims sank after hitting a sand bank on the Bhagirathi River in the Indian state of West Bengal. Thus far at least 74 bodies have been recovered, with many more missing, feared swept downstream.

Sinking of MV <i>Spice Islander I</i> Maritime disaster in Tanzania

On 10 September 2011, MV Spice Islander I, a passenger ferry carrying over 2,000 passengers, sank off the coast of Zanzibar. The ferry was travelling between Unguja and Pemba, two islands off the coast of mainland Tanzania, when it capsized. Early estimates put the death toll at around 200, but a report published by the Tanzanian government in January 2012 claimed that over 1,500 people had been killed.

MV <i>Rabaul Queen</i> Passenger ferry that sank in 2012

MV Rabaul Queen was a passenger ferry owned by the Papua New Guinea company Rabaul Shipping. The ship, built in Japan in 1983, operated on short runs in that country, before being brought to Papua New Guinea in 1998 and plying a regular weekly route between Kimbe, the capital of West New Britain, and Lae, the capital of the mainland province of Morobe.

On 30 April 2012, a ferry carrying about 350 passengers capsized in the Brahmaputra River in the Dhubri district of Assam in Northeast India. The disaster killed at least 103 people.

Sinking of MV <i>Sewol</i> 2014 ferry sinking disaster in South Korea

The ferry MV Sewol sank on the morning of April 16, 2014, en route from Incheon towards Jeju in South Korea. The 6,825-ton vessel sent a distress signal from about 2.7 kilometres north of Byeongpungdo at 08:58 KST. Out of 476 passengers and crew, 304 died in the disaster, including around 250 students from Danwon High School in Ansan City. Of the 172 survivors, more than half were rescued by fishing boats and other commercial vessels that arrived at the scene approximately 40 minutes before the Korea Coast Guard (KCG).

MV Dongfang zhi Xing was a river cruise ship that operated in the Three Gorges region of inland China. On the night of 1 June 2015, the ship was traveling on the Yangtze River when it capsized during a thunderstorm in Jianli, Hubei Province with 454 people on board. On 13 June, 442 deaths were confirmed, with 12 survivors. The passengers were mostly in their 60s and 70s, and mostly from Nanjing, where the ship started its cruise.

MV Sinar Bangun sank on 18 June 2018 in Lake Toba, North Sumatra, Indonesia, during its trip from Simanindo Harbour in Samosir Island to Tiga Ras Harbour in Simalungun Regency. The ferry was carrying 188 passengers and crew. After the sinking, authorities immediately deployed search and rescue personnel to the area. Twenty-one survivors were rescued, three bodies were found and 164 people were listed as missing and presumed dead.

Sinking of MV <i>Nyerere</i>

MV Nyerere is a Tanzanian ferry that capsized on 20 September 2018 while travelling between the islands of Ukerewe and Ukara on Lake Victoria. The Tanzanian government have declared that 228 people died as a result of the capsizing while 41 could be rescued. The capsized ferry was successfully righted, retrieved and unloaded more than one week after the disaster.

<i>Hableány</i> disaster 2019 maritime incident in Hungary

Hableány was a 27-metre (89 ft) river cruiser operated on the Danube river in Budapest, Hungary. On the rainy night of May 29, 2019, at 9:05 pm the 135-metre (443 ft) Viking Sigyn collided with Hableány from behind under the Margaret Bridge near the Parliament Building. Hableány sank in 7 seconds. The heavy rainfall and the resulting strong currents hampered rescue efforts, with some bodies found 100 km downstream. With 2 Hungarian crew and 33 South Korean tourists on board, 7 tourists were rescued at the scene; one person is still missing and all others were later found to be dead.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 "More than 200 missing after boat capsizes in Sierra Leone". Xinhua News Agency. 11 September 2009. Archived from the original on 2 November 2012. Retrieved 11 September 2009.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Sierra Leone ends boat rescue, dozens missing". Reuters. 11 September 2009. Retrieved 11 September 2009.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 "30 bodies found from Sierra Leone boat accident". Taiwan News. 12 September 2009. Archived from the original on 29 June 2011. Retrieved 12 September 2009.
  4. ↑ "Dozens more feared dead after boat wreck". IOL. 11 September 2009. Retrieved 11 September 2009.
  5. ↑ "Backgrounder: World's major marine disasters in recent years". Xinhua News Agency. 11 September 2009. Archived from the original on 2 November 2012. Retrieved 11 September 2009.
  6. 1 2 3 Adam Nossiter (10 September 2009). "High Toll Feared After Sierra Leone Ferry Sinks". The New York Times . Retrieved 12 September 2009.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 "200 missing in Sierra Leone boat tragedy". The Sydney Morning Herald. 11 September 2009. Retrieved 12 September 2009.
  8. 1 2 3 4 Rose Rea (10 September 2009). "Two hundred feared dead after boat capsizes off Sierra Leone". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 15 October 2009. Retrieved 12 September 2009.
  9. 1 2 "Deadly capsize off Sierra Leone". BBC. 9 September 2009. Archived from the original on 9 September 2009. Retrieved 11 September 2009.
  10. ↑ "'Nature has conspired against us'". IOL. 11 September 2009. Retrieved 11 September 2009.
  11. ↑ "Ferry disaster victims buried". IOL. 12 September 2009. Retrieved 13 September 2009.
  12. 1 2 "Bodies found from Sierra Leone ferry accident". IOL. 11 September 2009. Retrieved 11 September 2009.
  13. 1 2 "Survivors blame captain for ferry disaster". IOL. 11 September 2009. Retrieved 11 September 2009.

7°56′06″N12°58′12″W / 7.935136°N 12.970047°W / 7.935136; -12.970047

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.