With a death toll of 1,863, the sinking of Joola ferry boat 10 years ago remains one of the deadliest disasters in the world’s non-military maritime history

A handful of survivors gathered in Senegal 10 years after one of the worst maritime disasters in history to pay homage to the victims of a ferry that sank off the coast of Gambia, killing 1,863 people.

The number killed is 361 more than were killed when the Titanic went down nine decades earlier, claiming 1,502 lives.

The Senegalese MV Le Joola sailed out on September 26, 2002, from Ziguinchor, the capital of Senegal’s southernmost province. The government-owned ferry was carrying several times the maximum recommended number of passengers, and survivors say it was already listing from the excess weight when it ran into a violent storm.

Survivors wept at the graves on Wednesday, most of which are unmarked in the Dakar cemetery that was created for the disaster.

The bodies were so decomposed that most could not be identified and one relative of the dead went from headstone to headstone, placing his hand on the white marker, as if to find his loved one.

Among the 64 who made it out alive was Victor Djiba, a soldier who was assigned to work on the boat. He escaped only because he knew the layout of the ferry. But his friend, with whom he was sharing a cabin, perished.

“Since 2002, I have to use sleeping pills to be able to fall asleep. And even with the pills, I still don’t manage to fall asleep until 2am,” said Djiba, who attended an inter-faith ceremony at the cemetery.

“When the boat started to sink, I was in a cabin with my colleague. I feel responsible for his death.” (PA)

Last voyage

• Le Joola was a Senegalese government-owned ferry that capsized off the coast of Gambia on September 26, 2002.

• Le Joola was constructed in Germany and was put to sea in 1990 to replace the Casamance Express ferry. The ship was 79 metres long and 12 metres wide, had two engines and was equipped with some of the latest safety equipment available at the time of the disaster.

• Usually the ferry travelled twice a week and often included women who wanted to sell mangoes and palm oil on the market of Dakar. However, the ship had been out of service for almost a year undergoing repairs which included replacement of the port side engine.

• According to information released after the disaster, the ship was built to carry a maximum of 580 passengers and crew. The estimated number on board at the time of the disaster was 1,863, over triple the rated capacity. However, some Senegalese-based organisations put the actual number as being over 2,000 people on board. The sinking of the ferry is thought to be the second-worst non-military mar-itime disaster in number of lives lost.

• The first is considered to be the Doña Paz in 1987 with an estimated number of over 4,000 dead.

• Titanic, which sank in 1912 with 1,502 lives lost, would be third according to The World Almanac and the New York Times.

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