Mombasa, Friday
A FERRY carrying rush-hour commuters capsized near the Kenyan port of
Mombasa today and at least 44 people were drowned with an unknown number
still missing as night fell.
State-run Kenya Broadcasting Corporation said as many as 300 people
were feared drowned. The commercial Kenya Television Network said there
could be ''still more than 200 people under the water''.
A Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) official had earlier put the death toll
at 70.
Navy divers and small boats brought 71 survivors to land but suspended
their search as a high tide in the Indian Ocean coincided with
nightfall. ''We shall continue tomorrow,'' an official said.
The boat was taking commuters from Mtongwe village on the mainland to
Mombasa island, three miles away.
Ali Omar, who just missed the ferry because he had returned home to
collect his identification papers, said: ''It swayed violently. It
appeared to be overcrowded. It was like some force was swinging it, then
it just tilted.''
Divers and boats scoured the area, bringing bodies to be laid out on
the beach at Mtongwe, where relatives wept as they were brought ashore.
After identification, the corpses were put into a boat and ferried to a
mortuary on the mainland.
Police detained the ferry pilot whom they said was helping with
investigations. A spokesman said that of the 71 survivors, 23 were in
hospital, 11 of them in intensive care.
Both the KPA and police said it was not known how many people were on
the ferry.
''Our main fear is that in the morning that thing (the ferry) carries
perhaps 10 times its capacity,'' a KPA official said.
''They were mainly people struggling to beat deadlines to arrive at
work.''
The Kenya Broadcasting Corporation said the government was
investigating why the ferry sank, only yards from the shore as it turned
towards Mombasa.--Reuter.
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