Villagers hailed for efforts in Mali tragedy

THE death toll from one of the worst river boat sinkings in Mali has jumped to 39, including many young children, local officials and state media said yesterday.

Rescuers were still hunting along the Niger River for the missing after the tragedy struck overnight on Friday in central Mali, while survivors hailed local villagers for preventing a heavier death toll.

“Until now, 32 bodies have been recovered but there are still people in the water we are searching for,” said Ibrahim Waigalo, a councillor in the village of Koubi, near the site of the accident.

The state broadcaster, ORTM, said later the provisional toll had risen to 39 and the search for more bodies would continue. The dugout boat, carrying people and a large amount of merchandise, broke up on the Niger near Koubi, which lies about 70km north of the central city of Mopti.

Officials had said on Saturday that 20 people had perished, including 15 children, while 23 were missing and 210 survived.

It is one of the deadliest river disasters in Mali, local authorities say. While accidents involving the rudimentary canoes are frequent, Mopti governor Ibrahima Hama Traore said the human loss this time was exceptional.

“It was the residents of Koubi who saved us. It is thanks to them that there are not even more dead,” said Seydou Maiga, a teacher who survived the tragedy.

“There were lots of women and children. Yesterday we buried 13 children, it was terrible,” he said. Mr Maiga said the boat, which was en route from Mopti to the fabled desert trading city of Timbuktu, 700km away, was overcrowded.

He said 218 people had bought tickets for the boat trip. “But there were many more than that on board, I don’t know how many, perhaps 300, as there were people who hadn’t bought tickets.”