Ferry victims mourned
2002-10-12 14:27
Dakar - With sombre Christian hymns and Muslim prayers, Senegal on Friday mourned the hundreds killed in
Africa's deadliest ferry disaster at a sunset funeral ceremony.
Gathered on a promontory, overlooking fishing canoes that bobbed
in the Atlantic below, more than 1 000 people - including Senegalese
President Abdoulaye Wade - grieved for victims of the MS Joola.
The overloaded state-run ferry capsized in waters off West
Africa on September 26. Just 64 of the more than 1 000 people on board
are known to have survived.
The president did not speak. But Christian ministers and Muslim
imams offered prayers for the victims. A lone soldier also fired a
cannon 12 times as a salute. The 90-minute ceremony, televised
live, ended as the sun set in a golden orange over the sea.
"Everyone in Senegal is here or watching this on television,"
said Amadou Traore, a 44-year-old businessman at the gathering in
Dakar, the capital. "It's Christian and Muslim, it's national and
it's personal."
Two students, Ousmane Coly (26) and Moudjibou Rahamane Balde
(24), read out a poem they wrote for the dead.
"Here we are today, next to the sea, to gather your memories
among us. Perhaps you too are among us, not dead," they said in
quiet voices.
About 100 schoolchildren carrying lavish bouquets of tropical
flowers wound their way down the cliff and handed them to waiting
marines. A naval boat, escorted by a flotilla of canoes, was to
take the flowers to the southern province of Casamance. Authorities
there say at least 961 people from the province died aboard the
Joola.
The Joola was travelling from the Casamance port of Ziguinchor to
Dakar when it capsized.
Roughly 450 bodies have been recovered, many unidentifiable
after days in the warm water. Most were buried, unidentified, in
anonymous, numbered graves across Senegal and Gambia.
The Joola
sank in Gambian waters. - Sapa-AP
- SAPA