Nine on tourist boat still missing

Divers continue search for bodies in Colombian lake

GUATAPE, Colombia — Scuba divers on Monday continued their search for bodies from a submerged boat in Colombia as authorities turned their attention to what led the tourist ferry to sink with more than 150 passengers on board, leaving at least seven people dead and nine missing.

Prosecutors were treating the wreckage site at the Guatape reservoir outside Medellin as a crime scene and looking for any clues as to whether the company that owned the boat named El Almirante was negligent.

Dramatic videos circulating on social media show the turquoiseand-yellow-trimmed party boat rocking back and forth as people crawled down from a fourth-deck roof. Survivors described hearing a loud explosion near the men’s bathroom that knocked out power a few minutes after the boat began its cruise around the giant lake. As water flooded on board, pressure built and people were sucked under by the sinking ship

The tragedy Sunday would’ve been even deadlier if not for the quick reaction of recreational boats and jet skis who rushed to the scene to pull passengers from the fast-sinking vessel.

Residents of the normally festive town laid flowers at a monument overlooking the lake as family members of those missing waited for word on their loved ones.

Jorge Barragan said his three elderly aunts had taken his daughter to Guatape from Bogota to celebrate early her 15th birthday. He said they had been planning the trip for months and it was about to wrap up but instead ended in tragedy with two of his aunts dead and one still missing.

“My daughter said there was no time to do anything,” said Barragan, who rushed to Guatape from the capital as soon as he heard news of the accident. “The floor began to shake, and everything sunk.”

Complicating the search is the lack of a passenger list, so authorities have been relying on family members and survivors to report their whereabouts.