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11 die, 7 missing in ferry crash
22/02/2008 11:40 - (SA)
Brasillia - Rescuers were to continue searching for survivors from a ferry boat on Friday, which collided with another vessel and sank on the Amazon River in northwest Brazil, killing at least 11 people.
Authorities said police and fire service teams, aided by locals, were looking for another seven people missing after the accident, which occurred overnight on Wednesday when the passenger vessel collided with a freight barge and sank.
The boat, the Almirante Montero, was carrying around 110 people.
It sank quickly as passengers threw themselves into the water, near Novo Remanso, a riverside hamlet close to the town of Itacoatiara.
A river ports authority official, Paulo Brito, told reporters late on Thursday that an 11th body had been found in the water and around 70 rescuers were searching for seven other missing people.
Swept from the scene
He had earlier told AFP that 92 people were rescued. The number of people on the barge was not known.
Three of the recovered bodies - those of a woman and two children - had been swept several kilometres from the scene of the accident.
The toll from the tragedy could have been much higher, according to local fire service commander Antonio Dias.
A police patrol was nearby when the collision occurred, and its officers were able to quickly get most of the passengers who fell into the water to safety.
One woman said she was woken by the shock of the collision.
"Everybody started quickly running from one side of the boat to the other and there were even some who threw themselves in the water.
"I lost everything I had with me," she told a radio station in Manaus, 180km away.
According to Brazilian officials, the Almirante Montero was authorised to carry up to 165 passengers.
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