35 die in boat tragedy

2006-04-06 19:00

Djibouti - At least 35 people were drowned and an unknown number were missing Thursday after a boat carrying several hundred capsized as it left the main harbour of the Red Sea state of Djibouti, French officials said.

At least 35 bodies were recovered from the water after the traditional wooden boat - which witnesses said may have been carrying more than 300 people - flipped over, according to the French military.

"Our troops have brought back several dozen bodies, at least 35," said a French military official in the former French colony.

"We may find more bodies in the hull of the boat or in the sea.

"We don't know how many people were on board, but some managed to escape by swimming away," he told AFP.

"We managed to save about 50 people."

The French ambassador to Djibouti, Jean-Paul Angelier, said the death toll remained unclear.

"There are deaths, it is obvious," he told AFP, adding that there were also survivors and the troops from the French military base in Djibouti, France's largest base in Africa, had responded quickly.

Bodies hauled onto pier

Djiboutian officials could not immediately be reached for comment, but an AFP correspondent on the scene reported seeing numerous bodies hauled onto the pier after the accident by both French and Djiboutian soldiers.

Local accounts of the death toll and the number of missing varied wildly and it was impossible to determine how many people had actually been on the boat when the accident occurred.

Witnesses said they believed the boat - a traditional wooden vessel known as a "zambouq" - was carrying about 320 people - 200 more than its capacity - when it capsized around midday.

Many of the passengers were said to have been travelling to the northern Djibouti town of Tadjourah for a religious festival that is due to take place on Friday, the witnesses said.

The cause of the accident was unclear.

The weather was reported to be fine when the boat capsized although some witnesses said it appeared the vessel may have been destabilised by the movement of large numbers of passengers to one side.

- AFP