Up to 50 people, mostly school pupils aged between 11 and 19, are feared to have drowned after their ferry capsized on the Blue Nile in central Sudan, a newspaper reported yesterday.
The daily Akhbar al-Youm said the ferry overturned on Wednesday when a rope guiding its movement between the two riverbanks broke off at the village of Um Shoka in Sennar state, 280 km south-east of Khartoum.
At least 17 people survived the accident by swimming to safety or being plucked from the water by rescuers, it said.
Another newspaper, al-Shafa, put the death toll at 35.
The Sinnar state governor, Mr Younis al-Sherif, confirmed 17 other passengers survived the accident, adding that "none of the bodies has yet been recovered" from the swift current of the river that joins the White Nile at Khartoum to form the Nile River.
Recovery teams and divers are still trying to recover the bodies from the river at Sinja town, about 350 km south-east of the Sudanese capital.
The state-run SUNA news agency said the boys and girls, from primary and Koranic schools in villages on the east bank, were crossing to spend the weekend with their families on the west bank.
The small river ferry was overloaded with bags of sweet potatoes and bags of sorghum in addition to the passengers, according to the news agency.
When flooded, the Blue Nile travels fast and becomes perilous for many people crossing it.
Last year at least 40 people drowned.
Most accidents on the Nile are caused by overloading of boats, most of which are old and in poor mechanical condition.