The death toll in a shipwreck in Sierra Leone could continue to rise, as up to 300 people were on board and only dozens have been rescued, a maritime official said today.
The boat, orginally thought to be carrying 150 people, mostly children returning from their school holidays, was caught in a heavy storm off the capital Freetown, on Tuesday. Up to 80 people were thought to have died.
But the harbourmaster at Tombo, a fishing village on the Freetown peninsula, said that there were far more passengers on board than previously reckoned.
"The manifest that I received as harbourmaster indicates that there were over 200 passengers," Samuel Bangura said.
Mr Bangura said the captain had made several more stops "picking up about 100 more passengers" at seaside villages after signing the manifest and before being caught in the storm.
"We have been able to fish out a total of 12 bodies. The number of rescued has increased to 40. The rest remain missing," Bangura said.
There has been no official explanation for the accident, the worst since a boat full of refugees fleeing Sierra Leone's decade-long war that ended in 2002 capsized. But overcrowding and a lack of safety measures are often blamed.
Aside from passengers, the boat was carrying piles of timber, gallons of palm oil, as well as chicken and cattle.
Hundreds of relatives rushed from Waterloo, the boat's departure point 12km (8 miles) from Freetown, to Tombo in search of news of any survivors.
"I only saw my son two months ago when he left Tombo by a boat for holidays. Yesterday I received from his mother news about the shock death of our son," Ali Toure, father of 11 year-old John Turay, told Reuters.
Authorities in Tombo said the bodies were being washed up at Shenge, some 100 miles (160 km) away.
"More bodies are now coming out of the sea from the disaster," naval officer Lt Mohamed Suma said, without giving any details on the confirmed death toll.
"The major problem now is that those who have been rescued ... can not be treated since there are no available supplies of medicine to treat the victims. I am appealing (for) ... medical equipment for victims as it is urgently needed," he added.
Most passenger and fishing boats that usually ply the waters off Sierra Leone have remained on shore due to bad weather.
West Africa is being battered by the seasonal rains and storms that have killed about 160 people on land and displaced tens of thousands more, prompting governments across the region to seek international assistance.